Joseph Hill Sinex

Joseph was born in Delaware, the third child of Seneca and Sarah Hill Sinex. The surname was not his father’s original name, being a former enslaved person in the Danish West Indies. Joseph aspired to be more than a farmer, like his father was, and he developed a talent for carpentry. After moving to Philadelphia, he married Mary Duffield at Salem Methodist Episcopal Church in 1848. They welcomed eight children to the family but three did not live beyond infancy.

He also developed an interest in how the city was governed, and was elected to a one-year term on the Common Council. Unfortunately that term was for 1861, so Joseph’s political service was interrupted by military service that started after the “war of rebellion” had begun.

In the 17th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Joseph became captain of Company D. Since it was thought the war might be short, so were the enlistments, so he left after his 90-day term expired on August 2. When recruiting began that fall for a new regiment, the 91st, Joseph felt it was his duty to enlist. The 91st left in January of 1862 to serve on provost (military police) duty in Alexandria, Virginia.

Their first major battle was at Fredericksburg that December, after which Joseph was promoted to lieutenant colonel. At six feet four inches, he must have been an imposing figure on the battlefield, but also an easier target. He commanded the regiment during the Battle of Chancellorsville in May which resulted in a Confederate victory.

They reached Gettysburg in July, in time for the second day of fighting.  He brought 258 men to help secure Little Round Top after other units fought off a Confederate advance earlier in the day.  They improved fortifications and took prisoners after several other skirmishes, then pushed the Confederates back into Maryland. They lost three men and 16 were injured.

At year’s end the majority of the regiment re-enlisted and returned to Philadelphia for furlough in January of 1864. After six weeks at home, Lt. Col. Sinex was again in command and returned to Virginia. He was one of 13,000 wounded during the battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, 1864, and was discharged in July due to his disability.

Joseph promptly found a new career as a liquor dealer. He added to his business in the 1870s by building a restaurant at the corner of Grays Ferry Road and Washington Avenue. That soon expanded to include a hotel called the Washington House.

Politics again called him to nobler service. In 1883 he won a seat in the state House of Representatives for a single two-year term. This is his official portrait from the state archives.

In 1889 veterans of the 91st Infantry held a reunion at Gettysburg. They posed by this  monument on the battleground, which they funded, placed at the exact spot where they held their position at Little Round Top. Joseph is easy to spot as the big man in the middle.

State funds were made available later to erect a 25-foot tall monument, designed in the form of a castle tower. Both stones were emblazoned with the Maltese Cross, the symbol of the Fifth Army Corps, of which the 91st was a part.

Joseph  died on October 6, 1892, just a few days before his 73rd birthday. He left an extensive will outlining his plans to keep the restaurant and hotel business operating. The family plot is in the Circle of St. John where his three children who died in infancy were the first to be buried. Two sons later joined him and his wife in the Circle.