Turner A. Gill

Who was Turner A. Gill?

Turner Andrews Gill was a Democrat Kansas City Mayor in 1875 and 1876.

Gill was born in Bath County, Kentucky on a farm. He would later get a law degree from the University of Missouri.

During the American Civil War he joined the Confederates and was wounded in the Battle of Corinth and Battle of Champion's Hill in Mississippi. He was captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi. After being exchanged he joined General Shelby's regiment was promoted to Captain and participated in the Battle of Westport.

During his term as mayor he inherited a city that was deeply in debt and having to pay its pills with script and he put the city back into the black earning him a nickname of "Little Giant of the Third Ward."

After the mayor office he was city counselor and became a circuit court judge.