Ambrose Powell Hill
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1825-1865
Virginian Confederate Gen. Ambrose P. Hill and his large Rebel
division (six brigades), called the "Light Division" for its ability
to make rapid marches, were some of the Army of Northern Virginia's
most reliable fighters.
A.P., or Powell Hill, as he was often called (to distinguish him from
fellow general Daniel Harvey Hill), was a 35 year old West Point
trained career officer in the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the war.
He resigned from that service in March 1861, and the next May he led
a confederate brigade at the Battle of Williamsburg. His conduct in
the battle was so distinguished that he was promoted to the command
of the "Light Division," which had not yet earned that name.
The next month, Hill and his men opened the Seven Days' campaign and
spearheaded Confederate attacks at Gaines's Mill and Frayser's Farm.
But it was later that summer, when Hill's division teamed up with
Gen. Stonewall Jackson's command, that they earned their reputation
for fast marches and hard, dependable fighting.
Though Hill and Jackson seldom got along well personally,
professionally they worked wonders. At the Battles of Cedar Mountain,
2d Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, Hill
usually wearing his conspicuous red "battle shirt," led his men in
the forefront of Jackson's command in this spectacular string of
victorious marches and battles.
Upon Jackson's death at Chancellorsville and the army's subsequent
reorganization, Hill was promoted to lieutenant general and given
command of the new III Corps. His succes as a corps commander,
however, was checkered. He performed well at Gettysburg, disastrously
at Bristoe Station, and his corps was almost routed in the
Wilderness. After that he was seldom well enough to assume command.
On April 2, 1865, one week before the Appomattox surrender, Hill was
shot and killed in the fighting at Petersburg.
Fascinating Fact: In the delirium of their deathbeds, both
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
called for fellow general Ambrose P. Hill to bring up his troops.
