Reverend James Hill was a Baptist minister prior to the Civil War, and enlisted for service in the Army during the war, serving initially as a private. Promoted to lieutenant, he became his unit’s quartermaster, and as such was in command of a party of foragers during the action for which he was awarded his Medal of Honor. He was later reassigned as the company chaplain. After the war he returned to his home in Cascade, Iowa, to pastor the local Baptist church. He was later transferred to the Worthington Church, however even during this period he continued to make his home in Cascade.