The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South
Alexander Kelly McClure, Ed.

[693]

The career of General A. P. Hill.

Hon. William E. Cameron.

The numerous biographers of Lee and Jackson are, perhaps, responsible for the remarkable fact that no history of A. P. Hill has yet been given to the public. Any adequate life of the Confederate commander, or of his foremost lieutenant, so necessarily involves constant presentation of the deeds wrought by one less lofty in character, steadfast in purpose, and terrible in battle than either, that we may not be surprised if the general public has thus far been satisfied with the frequent recurrence of his name and deeds in the pages of Dabney, Cooke, McCabe, Randolph, and others. But it is not just to one who, in any other association, would have been facile princess; of whom it may truthfully be said that he was a determining factor in every important battle of the campaigns in the East, that his achievements should serve the one purpose of magnifying others, or that he should be seen only in the reflected light of stars of larger magnitude.

Measured by the standards which men apply to the claimants of mastership in war, Hill was not a great commander. Such have not come in troops, nor in triplets, upon any age or stage of the world; and the late American conflict, while prolific of good soldiers, and developing among a people inured to peace a wonderful aptitude for fighting, formed in this respect no exception to the experience of centuries. If that stern clash of antagonistic prejudices and contending interests produced, on either side, a genius family comparable to that of Frederick or of Marlborough, there was but one--and he fell before either friend, or foe, or fate, had found the limit of his [694] power. What he did will survive as rivaling the best exploits of the most renowned in arms, and Jackson stands among captains as Shelley among poets-enlarged by death into the perfection of promise. But he stands alone, so far as this country is concerned.

Nor would any judicious admirer of General Hill (and this paper is written from a standpoint of affectionate appreciation) institute any comparison between his qualities of leadership and those of General Lee. Their respective positions well suited and well describes their distinctive capacities. The one possessed all the characteristics of great military talent, and fell, by temperament alone, just short of genius; the other had some of those characteristics, pluck, endurance, executive ability, and magnetism in perfection; but some, as readiness of intuition and resource, were his in less degree; and some, as broadness of strategic vision, he lacked. But his tasks were no mere mechanic registrations of the will of another; nor was that sphere, in which he was great, contracted; nor was his success on many hazardous fields attained otherwise than by a longer exercise of that individual discretion without which no man can maneuvre men. If he had no part in ordering the movements of armies, he was laden always with a large share of the responsibility of making those movements successful; and if it was not his to create the plans of battle, it was often his, after those plans had been disarranged by adverse circumstances, or thwarted by the shortcomings of others, so to wield the forces at his disposal as to turn the doubtful scale of battle. It was asked of Napoleon, at St. Helena; during a discussion of the merits of his marshals, whether Ney would have been equal to the command of an independent army. “I do not know,” was the reply; “he could never be spared to make the experiment.”

Ambrose Powell Hill was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, in the year 1825. The “American Encyclopedia” curtly says, in continuance of the life then begun, that he graduated at West Point in the class of 1847; served in Mexico; resigned in March, 1861, a commission as lieutenant in the United States Topographical Engineers; entered soon after the Confederate service. At the battle of Manassas he was colonel of the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry; was subsequently promoted to be a brigade, division, and corps commander, and was killed in front of Petersburg, on April 2d, 1865. And this is correct so far as it goes — there is no better way of not knowing a man than to gaze upon his bare skeleton.

When Hill reported to Richmond, in the spring of 1861, the authorities were in the full tide of experiment, both as to men and [695] affairs. It is no wonder that there, as in Washington, the posts of honor and responsibility should, at first (with few exceptions), have fallen into the hands of a set of superannuated worthies, or that the early employment of those who were thereafter to be the leaders of their respective sides should seem ludicrously small, in the light of subsequent events. Jackson was given, in the outset, the humble position of major of engineers; Mahone was ordered to take charge of the quartermasters' supplies in Virginia. Hill was first created a lieutenant colonel, but, shortly afterward, was assigned, with full grade, to the Thirteenth Infantry, and was ordered to the Upper Potomac, where, under General Joseph E. Johnston, was forming the army that afterward turned the scale at Manassas. The campaign of that column was one of bloodless maneuvres, though Colonel Hill received honorable mention for the conduct of a small, but successful, expedition against the Federal advance at Romney. Nor in the engagement at Manassas, which shortly ensued, was anything developed but the gallantry of the troops, and of their commanders. It was only when the Southern army was confronted with McClellan's host on the Peninsula that opportunities for distinction were fairly offered to the capable and brave. Hill's bearing at the battle of Williamsburg, and the collisions that precluded settlement in the lines around Richmond, marked him for early promotion. On the 26th of February, 1862, he was appointed brigadier general, and assigned the First, Seventh, Eleventh, and Seventeenth regiments of Virginia infantry; and on May 25th he was commissioned major general, and placed in command of the brigades of J. R. Anderson, Gregg, Pender, Branch, Field, and Archer. Soon was his fitness for this perilous distinction to be tested.

It will not comport with the limits of this sketch to attempt anything resembling a report of the various engagements from which General Hill drew steady acquisitions of fame as a brilliant chief of division. That will only be accurately done when the history of the Army of Northern Virginia shall come to be written. But a partial exception must be made in regard to the initial steps of his career, betokening, as they did, the fiery energy and unconquerable endurance that ever afterward distinguished his course upon the field of battle. He strode across the threshold of war as though upon familiar ground, and in all the perilous crises of after days, though experience added to the thoroughness of his dispositions, and the celerity of his attack, his qualities of vigor and boldness, of cool determination, and unflinching obstinacy, never shone brighter than in the Seven Days Fight around Richmond. [696]

General Lee had just succeeded Johnston in command of the Confederate army; McClellan was gathering his strength for the long-promised spring upon Richmond; Stuart had swooped, with his bold troopers, from the Chickahominy to the James; Jackson was sweeping down from the Valley to add Blucher's vim to Wellington's attack upon the young Napoleon! It was the eve of the mighty conflict which for seven days surged and thundered around the Southern capital; and to the grand game, in which life, and death, and national existence were to be the stakes, there came, on either side, troops whose mettle was yet to be thoroughly tested, and officers to whom, with few exceptions, belonged, as yet, only the name of generals. In the fearful ordeal how many passed scathless through the storm of shot and shell, and yet went down, no more to rise? Reading over, now, the roster of both armies, one wonders what became of men who brought to those scenes such magnificent reputations, and who left them never more to protrude their overestimated heads above the surface of events. Here was the first great winnowing field, and the guns were great threshing-machines, before which the chaff and the wheat were separated as though by magic. But from the pounding process came also forth the fair, round grain, that was henceforth to be the sustenance and reliance of Union and Confederacy.

Lee's plan of attack contemplated the turning of McClellan's right flank by Jackson's movement through Hanover. A. P. Hill was stationed on the left of the Confederate lines, fronting the Federal intrenchments at Mechanicsville, and was expected to await the uncovering of his front by Jackson and D. H. Hill, and then to cross the Chickahominy and sweep to the right, down that wing of McClellan's army which rested on the north side of the river. The morning of the 26th of June was fixed as the time when the flanking column should arrive upon the field, but General Jackson was delayed by ignorance of the country and the inefficiency of his guides, and only came in sight of the enemy's position at a late hour in the afternoon. Then he found the bridge across Tattopottamoy creek destroyed, and was forced, while repairing it, to content himself with an artillery fire upon the Federal camps. But at the sound of this cannonading Hill sent his front brigades into action, captured with a dash the works in front of Mechanicsville, swept over and down the river, carrying all before him until the fortifications on Beaver Dam creek barred further progress and night fell upon his impatient energy. At early dawn a new assault was' made and sustained with great gallantry but unsupported for two hours, at the end of which, [697] General Jackson having crossed above, a general charge dislodged the enemy and completed the success which Hill had so brilliantly inaugurated. The bridges of Beaver Dam having been restored, Jackson, reinforced by the division of D. I. Hill, took a large swing to the left to turn the next stronghold of the enemy between Gaines' mill and new Cold Harbor, while A. P. Hill, supported by Longstreet, moved by the north bank of the Chickahominy to take that position in front.

This direct march brought the Confederates about noon on the 27th within sight of the now desperate foe. A range of hills behind Ponhite creek, and covering New Bridge, which was the remaining communication between McClellan's divided forces, had been fortified in the most elaborate manner. Three lines of infantry in rifle-pits occupied the rising slope, and the ridge was crowned with field-pieces so posted as to sweep every approach. The assault must be made through an opening four hundred yards in width, and the natural difficulties were increased by abattis along the whole extent of the line, while the advancing columns were exposed to a sweeping fire from the heavy batteries on the south side of the Chickahominy. Desperate seemed the attempt, but Hill formed his columns and prepared again to bear the brunt of battle. At two o'clock Jackson, who should before now have appeared in rear and flank of Cold Harbor, was still missing. Again such trivial cause as the bad hearing of a courier had destroyed the success of a grand combination and given the enemy time and notice. Every moment seemed an hour while standing on the brink of that desperate venture and listening in vain for the guns that should tell of Jackson's arrival. At last General Lee decides that time is even more important than cooperation, and Hill's brave division is again launched forth alone to contend with half of McClellan's army, sent in with admirable vigor, the troops pass the abattis, leap the ravine, rush over the intermediate lines upon the slope, and scramble breathless into the very mouths of the guns that crown the ridge.

For two mortal hours of agony this fearful work continues. Again and again these superb troops clamber up and dash themselves against the sides of this artificial Gibraltar, and each time they recoil with shattered ranks from the determined fire of the enemy.--“Hill's single division fought,” says General Lee, “with the impetuous courage for which that officer and his troops are distinguished.” Still the incessant shower of missiles from the forts on the eminence, still the crash and bustle of the enfilading batteries across the stream. The slaughter has been terrific; some of Hill's [698] brigades were broken; and at four o'clock, though Longstreet had thrown his fine division in upon the right, and Hood's Texans and Law's Mississippians were surpassing heroism in their magnificent disregard of death, the fortune of the day remained with McClellan. But Hill re-formed his shattered lines and still fought on close under the frowning brow of the hostile intrenchments. And now, through the swampy woodland to the left rings a cheer and the rattle of musketry. It passes like wine through the veins of the men of whom one bloody morning has made veterans. Jackson, with defiant energy, had rectified the blunders of his guides, and is on the field. Now the obstinate foe is beset on every side. But even yet victory wavers in the balance. The Federals make stout resistance even to the impetuous legions, fresh and used to triumph, of Jackson and the elder Hill. It is almost dusk, and yet the tenacity of the assailed is more than equal to the desperate courage of their assailants. At last comes the supreme moment. Jackson sweeps, in one of his resistless moods, upon the rear; Hill puts forth one last imperious effort for the centre, and on the right Wood and Law make up their minds to win. They all succeed. The Federals pour madly back across the river. Now, if a Jackson, or Hill, or Longstreet were on the thither flank, McClellan would be in deadly toils! But on the Confederate right sloth, if not timidity, prevailed. McClellan, floundering through the White Oak swamp, on the one road which offered him passage to the James, was not intercepted. Again Hill and Longstreet come upon his rear and lock with him in deadly combat at Frazier's farm; but the clutch that should be upon his throat is wanting. At Malvern hill he is forced to time and do battle again; but the grand scheme of envelopment has failed.

Hill's was now a household name throughout the South, and the army christened his command “The light Division,” and lavished upon it unselfish praise. But no time was given to the younger commander nor his men to rest upon these laurels. Already, while McClellan was gathering up the bruised fragments of his grand army at Berkeley, the Federal Government, not dismayed by disaster, .was organizing a new movement upon Richmond. From the Army of the Mississippi, where he had won, in easy circumstances, some incipient reputation, General John Pope was called to measure swords with Lee. The remains of the armies sent into the Valley originally under Fremont, Banks, Shields, and McDowell, were moved forward upon Culpepper Court-House with the design of seizing upon Gordonsville. This force of sixty thousand men, preceded by the boastful declarations of their leader, advanced without [699] interruption until a point eight miles south of Culpepper was reached. There it encountered General Jackson, who had been dispatched with Ewell's and Hill's divisions, and his own under General Taliaferro, to resist this new combination; and on the 9th of August the battle of Cedar run was fought, resulting in a decisive repulse to the Federal van-guard of twenty-eight thousand men under General Banks. About the same time General Lee detected the transfer of McClellan's forces from the Lower James to the Potomac, and at once set the remainder of his army in motion for the Rappahannock-hoping to overwhelm Pope while the bulk of his reinforcements were yet en route. Leaving McLaws, D. H. Hill, and Walker in front of Richmond, General Lee joined Jackson with the divisions of Longstreet, Jones, Hood, and R. H. Anderson on the 19th of August, and on the same day Pope, in the meantime strengthened by Reno's corps, of Burnside's army, commenced a full retreat for the north branch of the Rappahannock. Jackson, Hill, and Ewell were at once started in eager pursuit, striking for the upper fords of the Rappahannock, in order to pass upon the flank of the enemy, and having for an objective point Manassas Junction. Longstreet, in the meantime, occupied Pope's attention at the fords along the river, delaying him with threatening demonstrations to gain time for Jackson's establishment well in his rear. The march of the latter, for the first four days, was a continual skirmish. At Warrenton Springs, the enemy were found in force, and it was found necessary to amuse him there while a still larger detour to the left should be made. On the 25th, Longstreet occupied the ford at that point, and Jackson, now free from embarrassment, moved swiftly northward, crossed the Bull Run mountains at Thoroughfare gap, and, on the night of the 26th, effected the capture of Manassas Junction, with Trimble's Brigade of Stuart's cavalry. He was now, with three divisions, directly across the path of Pope to Washington, and was destined through the two following days to sustain, unaided, the onsets of a vast army. First, on the 27th, the attack fell upon Ewell, who had been left at Bristow Station. Finding from the constant pouring in of fresh troops that the whole Federal army was upon him, that officer skilfully withdrew to Manassas. That night Jackson formed his little army across Pope's line of advance, his left on Bull run, his right resting on Thoroughfare gap, through which Longstreet's march was anxiously expected. This position was full of peril, and the masses of the enemy were now hastening up to increase its imminence. McClellan's corps were now arriving upon the ground, and unless Longstreet should soon appear, the [700] game would grow desperate. But nobly did Hill, Ewell, and Taliaferro respond to the demands of their chief. First on one and then the other the unequal battle fell. Taliaferro and Ewell were wounded while gallantly encouraging their jaded troops to fresh efforts. Hill attacked with great spirit the head of the enemy's column, which was seeking to interpose between the Confederates and Alexandria.

The night of the 28th found both armies resolute in their positions. The next morning Pope was ready to overwhelm Jackson. At ten o'clock his batteries opened on the right and the final struggle seemed to be at hand. But now Longstreet's columns, urged on by tales of Jackson's need, begin to file through Thoroughfare gap, and soon the Confederate right was strengthened with these brigades. And now once more Hill and his light division were to fill the place of glory. At two o'clock the enemy moved in masses upon the railroad embankments forming Jackson's left, and here Hill waged, against overwhelming odds, the fiercest contest of that fierce campaign. The Federals fought with persistent gallantry. Six times they pushed with superhuman courage up to the very face of the fire. Once they broke over a cut in the railway, found a gap in the line and fought, hand-to-hand, with their opponents. It was a battle of giants. For seven hours the combat lasted, and not until every round of ammunition had been exhausted, and night was gathering about the scene of slaughter, did Hill yield his position to the troops of Ewell-sent to relieve his exhausted brigades. In the final engagement of the 30th of August, again the heat and burden of the day fell upon the Confederate left, and though on one occasion, late in the day, the reserves of the army (Anderson's Division) were ordered up to reinforce that portion of the line, ere they came into action, the obstinate valor of Hill, Early, and Trimble had repulsed the enemy, and Anderson was sent to the right to take front in Longstreet's attack. That night Pope hurried-dismayed and undone-into the fortifications on the Potomac. A new chapter in the war was about to be written in letters of blood.

The Sharpsburg campaign was now opened by the advance of Jackson into Maryland. Later, when that officer recrossed into Virginia, to effect the capture of Martinsburg and Harper's Ferry, A. P. Hill was still in the front of the advance. In the attack on the latter place his division made the assault, and were the first to enter the town. After the surrender Hill was left to dispose of the prisoners and captured stores, while Jackson hastened back to Sharpsburg, where Lee, with Longstreet and D. 11. Hill, was beset by [701] McClellan's entire army. He arrived, not a moment too soon, to find his chief in perilous straits. It was the morning of the 16th of September. General Lee had drawn up Longstreet's and D. H. Hill's Divisions, both much reduced by the recent desperate contests at South mountain, on a range of eminences overhanging Antietam creek. In his front six full corps of Federal troops. Jackson, with seven thousand men, formed the left of Hill, and Walker-coming down from Harper's Ferry-prolonged the right of Longstreet. During this evening the Federals crossed the Antietam creek, and made a heavy onslaught upon the Confederate left centre, under General Hood, but were repulsed. The real work was not to be until the morrow. At dawn, on the 27th, McClellan opened his batteries upon the Confederate left, and, just at sunrise, poured Hooker's, Mansfield's, and Sumner's Corps upon Jackson's thin line. For several hours Jackson sustained this attack, but at length his men were pressed back, and Early and Hood were left alone to maintain that flank of the army. At this critical juncture General McLaws came on the field, and, aided by General Walker, who had been hurriedly withdrawn from the right, succeeded in re-establishing affairs, and pushing the enemy back to his original position. In the meantime, the centre was also heavily pressed, and D. H. Hill was fully employed in guarding his front from a series of impetuous and well-sustained assaults. At four o'clock in the afternoon McClellan, releasing his efforts on the left and centre, moved in large force against the right of Longstreet's position, where a bridge over the Antietam was defended by two small regiments under General Toombs. For a time, so stoutly fought the Confederates, the issue of this movement seemed doubtful, but after repulsing several sharp attacks Toombs' line was forced back, and the Federals swarmed across the creek, threatening to accomplish a complete victory. The enemy, turning to the right, had broken through Jones' Division, captured a battery, and were sweeping on with wild enthusiasm.

But at the moment of crisis brought also the means of meeting it. Opportunely, as if summoned by the lamp of Aladdin, now came in full swing across the fields Hill and his “light division.” Called from Harper's Ferry to save the day, eighteen miles the gallant fellows had marched under the burning sun since morning, and now they marched as though fresh from bivouac. Throwing his batteries to the front, and opening a rapid fire upon the deploying masses of the enemy, Hill grasped the situation at a glance, and made, without halting, his dispositions. The Federal column, sweeping obliquely upon Jones' right, had exposed its own flank; Toombs, who had rallied his regiments, was ordered to fall upon it, while [702] Hill hurled Archer's fine brigade full in the face of the advancing foe; Gregg's and Branch's Brigades were thrown in with a like swift fierceness; and before these combined onsets the Federals first wavered, and then gave way. And Hill swept on, triumphant from the first, regaining the lost batteries, regaining the lost ground, never halting until the enemy were forced back across the Antietam, the bridge re-occupied, and the day saved; for with this charge of Hill and his two thousand, as terrible as any ever delivered by the Old Guard, with Ney for a leader, and under the eye of Napoleon, ended McClellan's efforts to break Lee's lines at Sharpsburg. On the retreat from Maryland, Hill brought up the rear, and at Shepherdstown inflicted upon the enemy, in repulse of a night attack made upon Pendleton's artillery, such fearful loss as effectually put an end to pursuit. In the battle of Fredericksburg, Hill held the right of the Confederate position, and was hotly engaged; and at Chancellorsville, where he was wounded, about the same time that Jackson fell, his record as a major general closes.

In May, 1863, General Lee formed three corps d'armee, from the troops then composing the army of Northern Virginia, assigning to the command of each a lieutenant general. Under Longstreet was the First Corps, composed of the divisions of McLaws, Pickett, and Hood; the Second, under Ewell, comprised the divisions of Early, Rodes, and Johnson; while to Hill was given the Third, with R. H. Anderson, Heth, and Pender as major generals. The commands of the last two were formed from Hill's own light division, with the addition to Pender of Pettigrew's Brigade, and to Heth of the Mississippi regiments, newly brigaded, under Joseph R. Davis. To this larger field Hill brought, unimpaired, the qualities which had distinguished him as a division commander; his promotion came at the suggestion of Lee, who had long since taken his measure, and ascertained his worth; and the troops had learned to repose absolute confidence in his leadership. Henceforth his place was to be at the right hand of the great commander, now bereft of the aid of Jackson. In the dark days that followed, casualty and the necessities of war called Longstreet and Ewell away from Lee, but Hill was ever at his side. Nor was the constancy of this trusted lieutenant ever shaken, or his high courage ever broken. Fate and death overtook this gallant soul at last; but fear or doubt never.

At Gettysburg, with Heth and Pender, he opened the engagement, winning a decided victory over the corps of Reynolds and Howard, and capturing the town. In the retreat, his columns again were in the rear. At the Wilderness, with Heth and Wilcox, he kept back for hours the combined forces of Getty, Birney, Mott, [703] Gibbon, and Barlow, inflicting upon them terrible loss, and maintaining his position against repeated assaults in front and flank until night put an end to the deadly contest, and until time had been gained for the march of Longstreet and Anderson to the rescue. Throughout the ceaseless warfare that attended the shifting of Grant's army to the banks of the James, Hill was always to the fore, and always gave a good account of himself and his men. At Petersburg, throughout the so-called siege, he held the right, or marching, flank of the army, and was constantly engaged. It was his strong hand that sent the Federal columns so often staggering back from their movements against Lee's communications. It was Hill's Corps that rolled Warren's line up like a scroll on the Weldon Railroad. It was I-Hill, with Heth and Wilcox, who overcame that bold Captain Hancock at Reams' Station. It was Hill who, with Mahone's Division, sent Hancock and Warren reeling for support from Hatcher's run. Everywhere and always, Hill was in the post of danger and won glory. Steadfast, alert, valiant, he never put his harness off, and always wore it well.

Through that last winter Hill's face and form became familiar sights to the troops. He was constantly on the lines, riding with firm, graceful seat, looking every inch a soldier. Like General Lee, he was rarely much attended. One staff officer and a single courier formed his usual escort, and often he made the rounds alone. Of ordinary height, his figure was slight but athletic, his carriage erect, and his dress plainly neat. His expression was grave but gentle, his manner so courteous as almost to lack decision, but was contradicted by a rigidity about the mouth and chin, and bright, flashing eyes that even in repose told another tale. In moments of excitement he never lost self-control nor composure of demeanor, but his glance was as sharp as an eagle's, and his voice could take a metallic ring. Of all the Confederate leaders, he was the most genial and lovable in disposition. In all his career he never advanced a claim, or maintained a rivalry. The soul of honor and of generosity, he was ever engaged in representing the merits of others; if he ever displayed a symptom of insubordination, it was when the government failed or delayed to recognize the services of some soldier to whom he thought promotion due. When news came of his death, there was not a man in the corps who did not feel that he had lost a friend.

On the 2d of April, 1865, Grant made an advance upon the right-centre of the lines in front of Petersburg; and, breaking through in heavy force, threw back upon the right the larger portion of the two divisions of Hill's Corps, then occupying the trenches. General Hill, whose headquarters were in the suburbs of the city, [704] was thus cut off from his command. Mounting rapidly, he set out, accompanied by a single courier, to break through the pickets of the enemy, and rejoin his scattered troops. Dissuasion was attempted, but he repelled it, and dashed off at full speed. General Ord, in the meanwhile, had thrown forces in the direction of the river, and Hill, spinning across the path of these, came suddenly upon a group of sharpshooters. Their summons to surrender was met by a charge toward them; the next moment the fatal shot was fired, and dead on the outposts fell A. P. Hill.

No history of him las yet been written; no stone marks his resting-place in Hollywood Cemetery. If the memories of war are to be perpetuated, not forgotten should he be — that Virginia soldier who never lost a post that duty gave him to defend, and who never failed to crown an attack if not with success — with the blood-red crown of terrible endeavor. In what has been here written there is but the faintest-outline of his brilliant campaigns. From Richmond to Chancellorsville, Hill's “Light Division” was either in the van as charging column, or came later into action as the well-chosen forlorn hope. At Sharpsburg, in the gathering dusk of a doubtful field-when the left wing was barely standing, the centre hardly resistant, the right already overwhelmed — with his worn and his numerically weak, but invincible column, Hill struck the exultant enemy, swept the debatable ground, gave courage to a despirited army by his ever advancing musketry, and saved, what bid fair to be, a day of decisive defeat. Follow him to the Potomac, thence to Rappahannock, to the Wilderness, throughout the wasting and wonderful struggle from the Mattaponi to Petersburg — the record of battles won, of positions saved, of guns and prisoners captured, gives Hill an emphatic claim to a soldier's fame. His death illustrates the character of his soldiership. Not as some of his equals in rank did his fidelity fall under the certainty of disaster; but manfully and well, in the very hour of defeat, he gave himself a sacrifice to one of the few remaining chances of saving the army.

The dead leaders, upon whom the world has lavished honors, leaned upon Hill as strong men upon a staff, and were not disappointed. And it is memorable and remarkable that Lee and Jackson — the magnet and meteor of the Confederacy-should, in their dying moments, have given their last earthly thoughts, their last coherent utterances, to this brave soldier and steadfast patriot. In the paroxysm of death, General Lee called on Hill “to move forward;” and, when Jackson was crossing the river to seek the shade of the trees, his last words were: “Tell A. P. Hill to prepare for action.”