Eliphaz Preston Shelton Hylton

My great-great-great uncle Eliphaz Preston Shelton Hylton was born in Floyd Co., KY on February 28, 1820. He was 41 years old and a Baptist preacher when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted , along with his son Willison Preston Hylton, in the 40th Kentucky Mounted Infantry and was mustered in at Grayson, Kentucky, in September of 1863. It is said that Eliphaz rendered his services to the regiment as chaplain, but he is listed in the rolls as corporal in Co. C.

Eliphaz mobilized a company of men to defeat Morgan's Raiders, but the adenture was unsuccessful. He met Morgan near Lexington, KY - and Morgan met him.
E.P.S. Hylton lost every man he had in the battle and had to flee for his own life. He rode a horse 22 miles without a bridle, fleeing for safety.

In border states such as Kentucky it was not unusual for family members to find themselves on opposite sides during the Civil War. While Eliphaz was a Union man, his brother-in-law Charles Grim was a Confederate. In his diary he describes a visit from January 1864:

"I went over on Tom's Creek to C. J. Grim's and my wife was there and as a rule I stayed with them, it being at one of my sister's, but not altogether of the same stripe in uniform. I wore the blue and they were dipped with gray."

It is questionable whether Eliphaz remained this philosophical and calm when his son Nathan Hylton ran off to join the very same "Raiders" of John Hunt Morgan's, that he had fought near Lexington. Nathan was barely 14 years old and loyal to the South, despite his father's views - and remained so for the rest of his life.

After the war, when Nathan started to cast his first vote for Horace Greely, Eliphaz asked him to haul off his coat. Nathan said:

"I'll do it, Pap, but I figure I'm just as good a man as you are."

Nathan voted the Democratic ticket all his life and never missed but one election.

E.P.S. Hylton's G.A.R & War Record

After the Civil War, his father Eliphaz went back to preaching. He was noted for his long sermons. If a man slept during his service, Eliphaz went back and woke him up. He didn't use a rabbit foot to tickle his nose with either. He grabbed him by the collar and the seat of his pants and dragged him out.

E.P.S. Hylton also openly defied the Klan. In a region where they were strongly organized he not only preached against them in his four-hour sermons but he went out on the road and clapped his fists and preached against them.
It was in a country where Baptists ruled, nevertheless his life was in danger. He had a room built in the upstairs of his house for protection. He had every sort of rifle, and he had holes he could shoot from if the Klansmen came after him. He doubly defied them and invited them to come and get him.

Eliphaz was killed by the Klan on February 17, 1896. After his death, his body was taken to a hill in Cherokee, Lawrence Co., KY, and buried among the soldiers he had led in battle. Eliphaz was a lover of books, a school teacher, a farmer, a warrior and preacher laid to rest.

Sources:

• "Beyond Dark Hills", by Jesse Hilton Stuart
  

  "Our Helton Heritage", Vol. 2, pub. by the Magoffin Co. Historical Society
  

  "History of Carter County, KY"

If you have further information on E. P. S. Hylton, Please, we would love to hear from you

Marlitta H. Perkins

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