A. P. Hill
Ambrose Powell Hill (
November 9,
1825 –
April 2,
1865), was a
Confederate general in the
American Civil War. He gained early fame as the commander of "Hill's Light Division," becoming one of
Stonewall Jackson's ablest subordinates. He later commanded a corps under
Robert E. Lee in the
Army of Northern Virginia before his death in battle just prior to the end of the war.
A. P. Hill, known to his soldiers as
Little Powell, was born in
Culpeper, Virginia, and graduated from the
United States Military Academy in
1847, ranking 15th in a class of 38 graduates. He was appointed to the 1st U.S. Artillery as a
second lieutenant. He served in the
Mexican-American War and
Seminole Wars and was promoted to
first lieutenant in September
1851. From
1855 –
1860, Hill was employed on the United States' coast survey. In
1859, he married Kitty Morgan McClung, a young widow, thus becoming the brother-in-law of future Confederate cavalry generals
John Hunt Morgan and
Basil W. Duke.
In March
1861, just before the outbreak of the Civil War, Powell resigned his U.S. Army commission. When
Virginia seceded, he was made
colonel of the 13th Virginia Infantry
Regiment and distinguished himself on the field of
First Bull Run. He was promoted to
brigadier general and command of a brigade in the
(Confederate) Army of the Potomac the following February.
In the
Peninsula Campaign of
1862, he gained further promotion following his performance at the
Battle of Williamsburg, and as a
major general, Hill was one of the most prominent and successful division commanders of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Hill's
Light Division (which was actually one of the largest in the army) distinguished itself in the
Seven Days Battles,
Cedar Mountain,
Second Bull Run,
Antietam, and
Fredericksburg. His division formed part of
Stonewall Jackson's corps; after Jackson was severely wounded in the flank attack of
Chancellorsville in May
1863, Hill briefly took command of the corps and was wounded himself.
After Jackson's death, Hill was promoted to
lieutenant general and placed in command of the newly created Third Corps of Lee's army, which he led in the
Gettysburg Campaign of 1863, the autumn campaign of the same year, and the
Overland Campaign and
Petersburg siege of
1864–
65. He once said he had no desire to live to see the collapse of the Confederacy, and on
April 2,
1865 (just seven days before Lee's surrender at
Appomattox Court House), he was killed by a
Union soldier as he rode to the front of the Petersburg lines, accompanied only by a lone staff officer. He is buried in the A.P. Hill Monument, Hermitage Road and Laburnum Avenue,
Richmond, Virginia.
Hill did not escape controversy during the war. He suffered from frequent illnesses that reduced his effectiveness at
Gettysburg, the
Wilderness, and
Spotsylvania Court House. (Some historians believe he suffered from complications of veneral disease, possibly
gonorrhea, contracted as a
West Point cadet. Academy hospital records show that he was admitted for treatment on
September 9,
1844, "with Gonorrhea contracted on furlough."
[Robertson, Gen. A.P. Hill, p. 11.]) At Gettysburg, his actions precipitating the battle on
July 1,
1863, before Lee's full army was concentrated, have been widely criticized.
Nevertheless, Hill was one of the war's most highly regarded generals on either side. When Hill was a major general, Robert E. Lee wrote that he was the best at that grade in the Army. He had a reputation for arriving on battlefields (such as Antietam, Cedar Mountain, and Second Bull Run) just in time to prove decisive and achieve victory. Stonewall Jackson on his deathbed deliriously called for A. P. Hill to "prepare for action"; some histories have recorded that Lee also called for Hill in his final moments ("Tell Hill he
must come up."), although current medical opinions believe that Lee was unable to speak during his last illness.
Fort A.P. Hill, named after Hill, is located in
Virginia, about halfway between
Washington, D.C., and
Richmond. During
World War II, the
U.S. Navy named a
Liberty Ship the SS
A. P. Hill in his honor.
Hill was depicted in both of
Ronald F. Maxwell's Civil War films,
Gettysburg (1993) and
Gods and Generals (2003), although played by different actors. In the former, historian and Civil War reenactor
Patrick Falci portrayed him; in the latter, he was played by the well-known
character actor William Sanderson.
*
* Eicher, John H., & Eicher, David J.,
Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
*
Freeman, Douglas S.,
R. E. Lee, A Biography (4 volumes), Scribners, 1934.
* Robertson, James I., Jr.,
General A.P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate Warrior, Vintage Publishing, 1992, ISBN 0679738886.
* Robertson, James I., Jr.,
Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend, MacMillan Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0-02-864685-1.
* Warner, Ezra J.,
Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.
*
And Then A. P. Hill Came Up website
