Hill, A. P. (1825-1865), was a Confederate general during the American Civil War (1861-1865). He became one of the Confederacy’s highest ranking generals. Hill was killed in battle near the end of the war.
Ambrose Powell Hill was born on Nov. 9, 1825, near Culpeper, Virginia. In 1847, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Hill fought in the Mexican War (1846-1848) and also served in Florida and Texas. In 1855, he transferred to the U.S. Coastal Survey Office in Washington, D.C.
On March 1, 1861, Hill resigned from the U.S. Army to become a colonel for the Confederacy. In February 1862, he was promoted to general. Later that year, Hill fought at the Battles of the Seven Days and at the Second Battle of Bull Run (or Second Battle of Manassas)—both in Virginia.
On Sept. 15, 1862, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson’s army captured the Union forces at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Hill stayed behind to oversee the surrender of the Union soldiers, while Jackson and his troops left to join General Robert E. Lee’s forces at Sharpsburg, Maryland. Two days later, the Union and Confederate armies fought at the Battle of Antietam (or Battle of Sharpsburg) in Maryland. Just as the Union advance at Antietam was closing in on the Confederates, Hill arrived from Harpers Ferry with his soldiers and pushed back the Union troops.
In May 1863, Hill fought at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. There, he briefly replaced the wounded Stonewall Jackson in command, until Hill himself was wounded and replaced by General Jeb Stuart. After Chancellorsville, General Lee divided his Confederate army into three corps, and he gave Hill command of one of the corps. In July 1863, Hill led his corps at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After Gettysburg, the Union and the Confederates in Virginia fought little until 1864.
In May 1864, Hill led his corps at the Battle of the Wilderness, in Virginia, until illness caused him to give up his command. Hill resumed command at the battles of the North Anna and Cold Harbor and at the Siege of Petersburg—all in Virginia. On April 2, 1865, a week before Lee surrendered his troops at Appomattox Court House, Hill was killed at Petersburg.
