{⋆★⋆} LG Hill, Ambrose Powell

Ambrose Powell Hill​

Born: November 9, 1825

Birthplace: Culpepper, Virginia

Father: Major Thomas Hill 1789 – 1857

(Buried: Fairview Cemetery, Culpepper, Virginia)​

Mother: Fannie Russell Baptist 1792 – 1853

(Buried: Fairview Cemetery, Culpepper, Virginia)​

Wife: Catherine "Kitty" Morgan 1834 – 1920

(Buried: Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky)​

Married: July 18, 1859 in Lexington, Kentucky

Children:

Henrietta "Nettie" Hill 1860 – 1862​

(Buried: Unknown)​

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Frances Russell Hill Hale 1861 – 1919​

(Buried: Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky)​

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Lucy Lee Hill MacGill 1863 – 1931​

(Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia)​

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Ann Powell Hill 1865 – 1871​

Education:

1847: Graduated from West Point Military Academy (15th in class)

Occupation:

1847: Brevet 2nd Lt. United States Army, 1st Artillery​

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1847 – 1851: 2nd Lt. United States Army, 1st Artillery​

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1850 – 1860: Served in Office of Coast Survey in Washington, D.C.​

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1851 – 1861: 1st Lt. United States Army, 1st Artillery​

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1861: Resigned from United States Army on March 1st​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1862: Colonel of 13th Virginia Infantry​

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1861: Saw no action during the Battle of First Bull Run​

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1862: Brigadier General in the Confederate Army, Infantry

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1862: Participated in the Peninsula Campaign​

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1862: Participated at the Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia​

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1862 – 1863: Major General in the Confederate Army, Infantry​

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1862 – 1863: Commander of Hill's Light Division​

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1862: Participated in the Seven Days Campaign​

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1862: Participated in the Second Battle of Bull Run​

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1862: Participated in the Battle of Sharpsburg, (Antietam)​

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1862: Participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg​

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1863: Wounded in the Calves of his legs at Battle of Chancellorsville​

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1863 – 1865: Lt. General in the Confederate Army Infantry​

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1863 – 1865: Commander 3rd Army Corps Army of Northern Virginia​

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1863: Participated in the Battle of Gettysburg​

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1863: Participated in the Battle of Bristoe Station​

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1863: Participated in the Battle of Mine Run​

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1864: Participated in the Battle of the Wilderness​

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1864: Medically Incapacitated during Battle of Spotsylvania

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1864: Participated in the Battle of North Anna​

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1864: Participated in the Battle of Cold Harbor​

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1864 – 1865: Participated in the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia​

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1864 – 1865: Very sick during the Winter months​

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1865: Recuperating in Richmond, Virginia​

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1865: Killed during Third Battle of Petersburg

Died: April 2, 1865

Place of Death: Petersburg, Virginia

Cause of Death: Killed in Battle

Age at time of Death: 39 years old

Original Burial Place: Old Winston Cemetery, Chesterfield Co., Virginia

Burial Place: Ambrose Powell Hill Monument, Richmond, Virginia

 

[farmerjohn]

I always find that scene so touching in my mind when Hill tries to take care of Jackson in his wounding. Personality differences aside, when it came down to it, they cared for each other (well, at least Hill did for Jackson though I'm sure it would have been so the other way around).

@Polloco and @John S. Carter I think it was personality differences. Hill thought Jackson a little odd and rather phlegmatic; Jackson saw Hill as an upstart. The only thing I can recall right now is that he saw that Hill was dragging his feet at Orange right before Cedar Mountain. I think there was some other instances, but stuff like that really irked him. He didn't like the way Hill responded to his criticism though I'm not sure what response would have been acceptable to him.

A.P. Hill is one of the generals I never got into, but the more I read about him, I think I'm going to have to get that Robertson's bio of him. I'm sure it's just as good a read as the Jackson bio; Robertson was an amazing author. RIP.

hill didn't like the way Jackson played everything close to the vest , so to speak. wouldn't share info on the slightest of things, yet would get angry if things weren't carried out to his [ Jackson] expectations. as in order of march. that's just one of the instances I remember from reading hills bio. hill always felt like he and his light division were slighted by Jackson at every turn. Jackson even had hill remanded to authorities for failing to carry out jacksons orders to his fullest expectations. lee had to let him out of " jail" to report for duty for an upcoming battle at the time. I forget which battle tho. hill's bio is a good read.

 

[John S. Carter]

That's so. Hill was in command for literally a couple minutes! The command should then have gone to Robert Rodes, who had led the famous flank attack and done very well, but he was not known to the troops. Stuart was. Hill decided to send for Stuart because he could stabilize the men - news about Jackson going down was spreading all over with devastating effect.

The interesting thing about this was there was a long delay for Stuart to get from where he was on the Rapidan to Jackson's location. Had Hill not been wounded, he very likely would have pressed the attack as Jackson had intended and Hooker's army would have been rolled up like a wet blanket. Joe Hooker...was not doing well at that moment!

Thank you for this.I had read that REL had given command to Jep ,No matter of the personality conflicts between Jackson and Hill,Jackson seems to have known of Hill's aggressiveness in battle esp. with his Light mobel Division.Who gave the order to replace Hill with Stuart,was it because he was at hand ?Then there is the issue of why not Rodes.The idea that Stuart could "stablize" the men is a little pit like a coach who the players like is better than one who can achieve a victory ,a quarterback who is liked but has not the leadership needed at critical junction is a vital game.

 

[diane]

Thank you for this.I had read that REL had given command to Jep ,No matter of the personality conflicts between Jackson and Hill,Jackson seems to have known of Hill's aggressiveness in battle esp. with his Light mobel Division.Who gave the order to replace Hill with Stuart,was it because he was at hand ?Then there is the issue of why not Rodes.The idea that Stuart could "stablize" the men is a little pit like a coach who the players like is better than one who can achieve a victory ,a quarterback who is liked but has not the leadership needed at critical junction is a vital game.

That's so, John - as Polloco noted, Jeb was senior to Rodes anyway. Hill gave the order to replace Hill with Stuart! He'd been shot. But Stuart's presence at that time was worth way more than Rodes' presence as news of Jackson's being wounded or dead were circulating fast. Stuart had to come from his station on the Rapidan so he wasn't handy, but he was the guy needed. Lee okayed all of it as well. Just before he died, Jackson promoted Rodes.

 

[Pollaco]

I need to look this up but I don't think Jackson promoted Rodes until the 7th of May .A major General was needed a lot sooner than that. That date may be when Richmond made it official but an MG was needed immediately after Jackson's wounding.

 

[Paul Yancey]

He was married to John Hunt Morgan's sister, and if I recall correctly, prior to the war he and McClellan vied for the same young lady who would eventually become Mrs. McClellan. His arrival on the battlefield at Antietam certainly saved the day for the Confederacy.

 

[Pollaco]

He carried a good luck piece,a ham bone, from His mother.
He supposedly carried it from his West Point days throughout the war.
And the rumor or legend is that He didn't have it on him the day he was killed.

 

[farmerjohn]

He was married to John Hunt Morgan's sister, and if I recall correctly, prior to the war he and McClellan vied for the same young lady who would eventually become Mrs. McClellan. His arrival on the battlefield at Antietam certainly saved the day for the Confederacy.

you sir are correct! give that man a cigar!!!!!

 

[Pollaco]

When Hill was promoted from Colonel to Brigadier general one of the Richmond papers reported the incident. But the paper reported a "A. P. Hall of North Carolina" got promoted. Does anyone know which paper made this blunder?

 

[Jamieva]

We've discussed it in other threads but we came to the conclusion that his kidneys were failing and his post war life would have been short and painful.

He spent the 64/65 winter at a home in chesterfield county with his family trying to regain his health. It was not improving.

 

[Rebforever]

Happy birthday, Little Powell! Little Powell was what his soldiers called him. He was definitely one of Lee's more colorful officers and a great asset to him - when he wasn't being impulsive. Hill didn't take charge after Chancellorsville because he had been wounded. He was almost killed in the fire that took down Jackson, only saved himself by becoming one with the road he was lying on! He applied a tourniquet to Jackson's arm and held him until medics arrived, talking to him so he wouldn't take a fade, but when he went to get his horse a cannonball whizzed close by his legs, cutting the tops off his thigh-high boots. That put him out of the command line. He and Jackson reconciled at that point but before that, you couldn't find two officers more upset with each other than these two. Hill called Jackson 'that crazy Presbyterian' and Jackson thought Hill was a diva. In the end, he and Lee became close - Longstreet was wounded, Stuart and Jackson were dead. Hill was a compassionate person and a good listener - that was what Lee really needed at that particular time. Hill was actually dying at the time he was shot - his kidneys were failing and he was quite sick - but it was something he would have preferred. He had said he didn't want to live to see Richmond fall, and he didn't.

Diane, the way AP dressed that day with a white shirt on would that be a reason to think off suicide?

 

[diane]

Diane, the way AP dressed that day with a white shirt on would that be a reason to think off suicide?

Little Powell liked something a little fancy - red, calico or white. He just decided to put on a white shirt that day! I really don't think he was suicidal - even if he was, Lee needed him. He knew Lee was down to the nubbins for commanders, or anything, and he was not about to abandon the general until nature did it for him.

 

[Northern Light]

He carried a good luck piece,a ham bone, from His mother.
He supposedly carried it from his West Point days throughout the war.
And the rumor or legend is that He didn't have it on him the day he was killed.

A ham bone??? She might have given him something a bit smaller. I wonder if she sent him a ham in a care package and he kept the bone.
Aha! https://www.progress-index.com/article/20100402/news/304029953

 

[Northern Light]

Is it true that he is buried standing up?

 

[gentlemanrob]

Happy Birthday Lt. General Ambrose Powell Hill! Salutes remembering General Hill on his birthday.

 

[Sheltowee]

Any understanding on why his wife was not buried with him? Looks like she is in the Morgan plot in Lexington.

 

[Cornpone and Molasses]

Cool. We share a birthday. Deaths of soldiers in wartime is sad but it's particularly sad for those killed so close to the end.

It is my birthday today as well. Happy Birthday!

 

[bdtex]

It is my birthday today as well. Happy Birthday!

Thank you and to you too sir.

 

[Pollaco]

While Colonel of the 13th Virginia Regiment he was given a battle flag made from his wife's Kitty's wedding gown.

 

[Pollaco]

When his daughter, Lucy Lee, was christened, the godfather of the infant was none other than Robert E.Lee.

 

[Pollaco]

Any understanding on why his wife was not buried with him? Looks like she is in the Morgan plot in Lexington.

I'm guessing it had something to do with her remarrying in 1870 to a doctor in Louisville.