On September 9, 1775, the NC Provincial Congress appointed Whitmell Hill as a Lt. Colonel under Col. William Williams in the Martin County Regiment of Militia.

On April 24, 1778, Col. William Williams resigned his commission and took his seat in the NC Senate. Soon thereafter, the NC General Assembly appointed Whitmell Hill as Colonel/Commandant over the Martin County Regiment of Militia. He resigned his commission on August 12, 1778 to take his seat in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He retained this position until late 1780, when his term expired.

In early 1781, Whitemell Hill returned to active duty as a Colonel in the Martin County Regiment of Militia. Available records indicate that he retained this position until the end of the war in 1783. Col. Whitmell Hill led the Martin County Regiment of Militia at the battle of Guilford Court House on March 15, 1781.

Whitmell Hill was elected to represent the Edenton District on the Provincial Council in August of 1775. He was a delegate to the Third Provincial Congress of August 1775 in Hillsborough; the Fourth Provincial Congress of April 1776 at Halifax; and the Fifith Provincial Congress of November 1776, also at Halifax. Whitmell Hill was elected to represent Martin County in the NC House of Commons in 1777 and in the NC Senate in 1778, where he was elected as Speaker. In August of 1778, he was elected to represent North Carolina in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He was re-elected to the NC Senate in 1783, 1784, and 1788. In 1788, he was a delegate to the NC Constitution Convention.

Whitmell Hill, the son of John and Martha Hill, was born on February 12, 1743 in Bertie County, NC. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1760 and returned home to become a planter. He died on September 26, 1797 in Martin County, NC.