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Ambrose Powell Hill

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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AMBROSE POWELL HILL (1825-1865), American Confederate soldier, was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, on the 9th of November 1825, and graduated from West Point in 1847, being appointed to the 1st U.S. artillery. He served in the Mexican and Seminole Wars, was promoted first lieutenant in September 1851, and in 1855-1860 was employed on the United States' coast survey. In March 1861, just before the outbreak of the Civil War, he resigned his commission, and when his state seceded he was made colonel of a Virginian infantry regiment, winning promotion to the rank of brigadier-general on the field of Bull Run. In the Peninsular campaign of 1862 he gained further promotion, and as a major-general Hill was one of the most prominent and successful divisional commanders of Lee's army in the Seven Days', Second Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburg campaigns. His division formed part of "Stonewall" Jackson's corps, and he was severely wounded in the flank attack of Chancellorsville in May 1863. After Jackson's death Hill was made a lieutenant-general and placed in command of the 3rd corps of Lee's army, which he led in the Gettysburg campaign of 1863, the autumn campaign of the same year, and the Wilderness and Petersburg operations of 1864-65. He was killed in front of the Petersburg lines on the 2nd of April 1865. His reputation as a troop leader in battle was one of the highest amongst the generals of both sides, and both Lee and Jackson, when on their death-beds their thoughts wandered in delirium to the battlefield, called for "A. P. Hill" to deliver the decisive blow.