A.P. Hill, Lee’s Forgotten General by William Woods Hassler. ISBN 0-8078-0973-X
A.P. Hill, Lee’s Forgotten General is aptly titled. Considered by Lee to be indispensable, he is largely overlooked by all but the most devoted students of the War between the states. I had read James Robertson Jr book, A.P. Hill, Confederate warrior, long before I acquired this tome, even though this one’s copyright far outdates the other. I recently received this one from a friend in the mail and I was frantic to get started reading it.
I was struck first by the fact foot notes are at the bottom of each page rather than at the back of the book. I know writers and printers have just cause to loathe doing it that way but as a reader I love it. It is well written by a Virginian with a love of the history of the war I think rather than simply a historian writing about history cause that’s his job.
Hassler starts off his preface with “As soon after the war as 1879, W. E. Cameron in Annals of the War called attention to “the remarkable fact that no history of A. P . Hill has yet been given to the public.” General Hill’s continued neglect by biographers of the Confederacy is still “remarkable” in view of the conspicuous role he played in the conflict and the high esteem he enjoyed in the hearts of his countrymen. Lee ranked him next to Jackson and Longstreet; his was the fourth monument which the impoverished South erected to the memory of her heroes; and the Virginia edition of Hardesty’s Historical and Biographical Encyclopedia published in 1884 devoted almost as much space to A. P. Hill as to R. E. Lee.”
Forgotten indeed. Hassler then sets out to set the record straight. Considering he was the first to do so and the absence of ready documentation I think he does a pretty good job. He tells of Hill’s West Point days and the illness that set him back a year. Hassler does not point out this was because of a sexually transmitted disease. Yet whether he omits that fact from lack of information or merely discretion I can’t say. He tells of the love triangle between Hill, Ellen Marcy and McClellan. Providing full transcripts of some letters involved with was cool. He relates Hill’s involvement in the Mexican War then jumps right to the Civil War. ...He tells quite well how good Hill was in combat and the feuds he had with both Longstreet and Jackson. .....His command of the famed “Light Division” Of cradling the head of Jackson as Jackson lay wounded, getting command of 3rd Corp, of his triumphs at Sharpsburg to the fiascoes at Bristoe Station. To the sad inevitable death at the fall of Petersburg.
All in all I think it was a pretty good book. The map to Reams Station was unaccountably out of place and although I believe the book has been revised since it’s appearance in 1962 (my copy is 1979) I think it could stand one more just to fine tune it. If I could only have one A.P. Hill book, I would be hard pressed to pick this one over Robertson’s or vice versa. I’d have to flip a coin. But they compliment each other most excellently if you have the luxury of having both.
YMOS
tommy  | 
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