A.P. Hill

A.P. Hill was born on November 9 , 1825 in Culpepper , Virginia.He attended West Point and graduated in 1847 , fifteenth in his class.Commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant , he first saw action during the Mexican War.After this war , he served in the office of the superintendent of the Coats Survey , then again saw action in the Seminole War.

About one month before the Civil War began , when war was imminent , Hill resigned from the United States Army and joined the Confederacy.Entering the Confederate Army as a colonel of the 13th Virginia Infantry , he rose to brigadier general on February 26 , 1862.Following his outstanding service at the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5 , 1862 , where he successfully overran the Union troops as they were advancing up the peninsula , he was promoted to major general.

Following a few battles and campaigns , he then joined Major General Thomas Stonewall Jackson on the Rapidan River in July 1862.Hills' division would go on to exalt themselves as one of the Confederacy's finest units , serving at Cedar Mountain , Second Bull Run , Antietam , Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.

Following the death of Stonewall Jackson , General Robert E. Lee reorganized his army.Promoted to lieutenant general , Hill was placed in command of the new III Corps.As a corps commander , the reasons for his actions that followed are unclear.Whether his problems were physiological or psychological , or perhaps his abilities merely could not face the challenges ahead , is unknown.In any event , his performance as a corps commander was less than noteworthy.At the Battle of Gettysburg , although it was his corps that began the fight , he remained very submissive.Again at Bristoe Station , his spontaneous and impatient assault on the Union cost his corps more than one thousand three-hundred casualties.At the Battle of the Wilderness , his corps was facing certain tragedy , only to be rescued in time by Lieutenant General James Longstreet and his men.Becoming sick , suffering from an unidentifiable illness , he missed the Battle of Spotsylvania and at the Battle of Petersburg , as soon as the battle's moment of truth approached , he would report himself sick , yielding all command responsibilities.During those times when he was absent to illness , it was General Robert E. Lee who in effect took over his command.

On April 2 , 1865 , upon returning from sick leave , he did ride into battle to attempt to rally his shattered troops whose lines had been destroyed , and was shot and killed by two soldiers of the Union VI Corps.Throughout his life , Hill remained very close friends with both Lee and Jackson.It is believed that General Lee and Jackson looked upon their friend in kindness , in spite of his battlefield actions , and in consideration of his illness , which was not understood.Interestingly , when Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee were in their dying delirium , they both called out for A.P. Hill.