timeline

I think the most important thing for me to establish right now is the timeline of the battle and Hill's involvement. Was he bedridden for the first day? He was most certainly ill on the first day of the battle, but did he push through the pain and did this affect his leadership and his judgement?

opening lines.

possible opening lines for my episode:

1. The Battle of Gettysburg was to be a decisive battle in the career of General Ambrose Powell Hill.

2. Day one of the Battle of Gettysburg and General Ambrose Powell Hill is confined to bed, struck down by yet another outbreak of his nineteen year battle with gonorrhea.

3. Eager to live up to his lingering rival "Stonewall" Jackson, General Ambrose Powell had a lot riding on his shoulders in the days leading up to the decisive Battle of Gettysburg.

edit:

My research has led me to understand that General Hill most certainly contracted the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, and this was to be the main source of his erratic bouts of ill health during his tenure in during the Civil War.

Robertson, James I. General A.P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate General. New

York: Random House, 1987. p. 11

first draft

I realized it might be prudent to post my first draft of my episode so that I can easily refer to it in conjunction with my peer reviews and previous musings and comments.

Christian Wash

History Engine Rough Draft

General Ambrose Powell Hill, division leader of the fabled "Light Brigade" and eventual commander of the Third Corps under Robert E. Lee had a lot to live up to at the Battle of Gettysburg. The general was the former roommate of George B. McClellan, now Union foe, at West Point military academy and received much criticism for his tendency towards tardiness and subsequent high volume of stragglers during his marches when he raced to compensate. [1] Hill also clashed with several of his fellow Confederate generals, most notably the ever-praised Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson who had once arrested Hill in response to a quarrel between the two men. [2] These factors directly affect his account of the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Battle of Gettysburg came mere months after the devastating death of Jackson and there had been much argument over who would succeed the general. Robert E. Lee decided to split up Jackson's troops into three rather than two corps and he placed Hill in charge of the Third Corps, a position Hill would be eager to live up to. On the first day of battle Hill led his men in a march towards the town of Gettysburg, along the way they encountered Federal troops assumed to be cavalry. Not until it was too late did they realize that had in fact encountered a veteran Union force that was able to "dispute the further advance" of the Confederates. [3]Hill notes in his report "the want of cavalry had been and was again seriously felt" but the troops under him were able to push the enemy back through the town. At this point, Hill felt it prudent to cease fighting for the day and allow his men to rest. As he had long been criticized for not allowing his men mandatory rest breaks, this was a deliberate gesture on Hill's part. The next day fighting resumed and Hill describes the incredible resistance of the Union forces and the inability of his troops, guided by many able subordinates, to breach the line and he remarks they started day three in the same position they had started day two. Day three of the battle brought the famous Pickett's Charge, although Hill's report suggests this might be an ill-fitting moniker for the assault. Hill lists the troops engaged, putting no particular emphasis on Pickett's men and in conclusion of the charge, merely remarked "the assault failed and our troops fell back in disorder." This was a rather abrupt conclusion to the report on one of the Civil War's most important engagements.

---

[1] Robertson, James I. General A.P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate General. New

York: Random House, 1987.

[2] Bradley, Paul F. 1997. "Bad blood between confederate commanders." America's Civil War 10, no. 5: 46.Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2011).

[3] Hill, Ambrose P. "Report of Lieut. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill, C.S. Army, commanding Third Army Corps."In War of the Rebellion Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Part of Series I,Volume XXVII, Operations in- North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Department of the East, June 8 - August 3, 1863 Gettysburg Campaign. Washington Government Printing Office 1889. 606-608

tweaks

In rereading my episode after taking some time off from it and comparing my two peer reviews I think I have a better grasp on where I would like to take the episode.

The two things I think I need to work on the most are including more personal narrative and re-writing my first sentence to make it more lucrative and catchy. I think one of the main necessities of the history engine article is a first sentence that will make the reader stop and click on my episode. Will also suggested that I use more military jargon in my episode, so that might be another area that bears researching.

I think the Shaara book "Killer Angels" is definitely worth perusing again in thinking about my episode; both for more insight and information but also as a guide to interesting as well as informative history writing.

peer review number two

peer review number two

received march 4, 2011

Christian Wash

Will McNutt

1. The Episode meets the required goals

2. The organization is well outlined.

3. Insight is acceptable, but it would be nice to delve into personal journals.

4. The analysis and conclusion appear sound. They do not simply repeat primary documents.

5. It would be nice to use better military terminology.

6. The first sentence is fine.

7. Grammar could be refined in places.

8. Citations appear appropriate.

9. Wash puts great emphasis on responsibility and repercussion. It reads well...

peer review number one

peer review number one

received on march 4, 2011

• Hey Christian,
• 
  
• Here's my peer review for you. Good job!
• 
  
• Christian Wash
• 
  
• Kelly Greene
• 
  
• 1. Your Episode definitely meets the History Engine's goals. It is an interesting story!
• 
  
• 2. The organization of your episode is good, but I would suggest tweaking the first sentence a bit, just so that you have something really attention getting at the beginning.
• 
  
• 3. I think your episode is complex enough, but I would add a little more background on Hill to make his motivations a little clearer. It would be interesting to explore who he is as a person and how that affected his role as general.
• 
  
• 4. In your conclusion, tie Hill's motivations to why his account was so brief. Contextualize it a bit more by discussing his past and maybe delving deeper into his relationship to other generals. Did you find anything in his personal writings that explicitly said he felt that he needed to live up to McClellan and Jackson? (I'm sure he did feel he needed to live up to them, but does he say anything about it that is particularly striking?)
• 
  
• 5. Your sentence structure is very clear and well written.
• 
  
• 6. Your first sentence isn't bad, but like I said, maybe say something that has more of a "bang"
• 
  
• 7. Your paper had good grammar, and I could tell that you proofread it.
• 
  
• 8. Good job with citations!
• 
  
• 9. I really enjoyed the language that you used; it was both attention getting and fun to read!

the man.

A Battle Cry of Freedom

In examining James McPherson's detailed account of the Civil War, specifically his account of Gettysburg, I noticed that Hill's division was given a different spin than that of Hill's own account. His brigade was mentioned for their attempt to procure shoes from the town of Gettysburg and the subsequent engagement with Federal troops that had been so discouraged by Lee. McPherson notes that 2 of Hill's 3 divisions had suffered such heavy casualties during the first day of fighting that they were unable to participate on the second day.

However, two of Hill's divisions were requested to participate in what would come to be known as "Pickett's Charge" on the afternoon of July 3, 1863. The charge was immediately condemned by General Longstreet who saw no hope for the confederate attack. However, the confederate siege at the middle of the Yankee center was violently rebuffed and less than half of the 14,000 men made it back from the suicidal mission.

Gettysburg was over, the Confederates had lost and General Hill led the retreat.

McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press,
1988.

Narrative Tradition

In reading through some of John Keegan's book "The Face of Battle" the section on narrative tradition had some interesting insights into the ways that military history is recorded. He notes that military history is not about the soldiers, it is about their leaders. He also points out that the greatest fear of a soldier is "losing the one thing he is likely to value more highly than life- his reputation as a man among other men."

Is this not true for the leaders of those soldiers as well? Thus, I would assume in a battle report one is not admitting dereliction of duty, incompetence or lack of leadership ability. The battle report will reflect it's authors perceived strengths and will highlight his victories while downplaying his failures.

Keegan, John. The Face of Battle. Middlesex: Penguin Book, 1976.

Roommates

Future General Ambrose Powell Hill had an unlikely roommate during his first year at West Point Military Academy... his future foe General George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Perhaps Hill got an early glimpse into McClellan's battle strategy during that tenure together.

Robertson, James I. General A.P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate General. New
York: Random House, 1987.

Fun Fact.

I have noted in several different places that our General Hill may have been affected by the venereal disease Gonorrhea picked up while a cadet at West Point. He contracted the disease while on furlough and it ran a nasty course, causing incredible pain and illness and having the unfortunate consequence of requiring Hill to repeat his third year at West Point.

I don't think this fact is worth mentioning in my article- but it is interesting and worth noting for the disease had life long ill-effects on Hill and may have affected his abilities later in life.

Robertson, James I. General A.P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate General. New
York: Random House, 1987

Guttman, Jon. "The Man Who Shot A.P. Hill. (Cover story)." America's Civil War 22, no. 6 (January 2010): 60-65. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2011).

Bad Blood?

In figuring out the direction I wanted to go with my research on General A.P. Hill I was initially struck by some comments in the introduction of my main biography of Hill. Robertson briefly mentions that he may not paint as angelic and heroic a picture of "Stonewall" Jackson as most history books might dictate. I thought this was an interesting point to bring up in the opening of his book. With this in mind I was excited to find an article in Academic Search Premier entitled "Bad Blood Between Confederate Commanders" with A.P. Hill, Jackson, and Lee all as keywords. I came upon this article by searching "A.P. Hill" and "Civil War" a search that produced few results, but this one ended up being quite useful.

The article discusses the internal conflict of the Confederate Army evidenced by the turmoil between two major generals- "Stonewall" Jackson and Ambrose P. Hill. The two men attended West Point together but were complete opposites in both temperament and battle strategy. Jackson was close-lipped and disliked informing his subordinates of his plans, while Hill was gregarious and friendly with the men under his command and he preferred to give explicit orders. The conflict first came to a head during the Battle of Cedar Mountain. Jackson changed his battle plan and failed to inform Hill who consequently showed up late with his troops, but just in time to fortify Jackson's troops and save the day.

The next conflict came at the Second Battle of Manassas- Hill and Jackson were able to put aside their differences during the battle and the two men communicated and worked well together. Hill's troops repulsed attack after Federal attack and Jackson heartily expressed his faith in the general and appreciation of his hard work. However, in the battle report Jackson only mentioned the tendency of Hill's Light Brigade to have stragglers, leaving out all mention of his commendable actions during the battle.

Maybe the height of their tension occurred shortly after this battle, Hill's division was late to begin marching one day and he urged them on at a fast pace, leaving lots of stragglers in the wayside and refused to stop for the mandatory 10-minute march breaks. Jackson, seeing this, ordered Hill's troops to cease marching and when confronted by Hill, he promptly arrested the general much to Hill's consternation and embarrassment.

The issue was put to the side after the confederate capture of the Federal garrison at Harper's Ferry, Lee urged troops to march to Sharpsburg, but Hill's men were assigned to remain behind and parole prisoners of war and inventory captured supplies, a much needed break. However the rest was short lived and they were directed to march immediately to Sharpsburg where Hill's crowning achievement at Antietam would occur. Hill and his men showed up just in time to save the day. The men were dressed in Union blue uniforms they had retrieved from the storehouses and initially caused just enough confusion on both sides to enable Hill to inject his troops where he perceived they were needed and fortify the Confederates.

The bad blood between Hill and Jackson ended with Jackson's death at the Battle of Chancellorsville, his last words reportedly being "order A.P. Hill to prepare for action" a testament to his ultimate faith in his subordinate commander.

The article sheds some interesting light on A.P. Hill's role in the war and his underlying motivations and I think it will be a good source to use in my project.

Bradley, Paul F. 1997. "Bad blood between confederate commanders." America's Civil War 10, no. 5: 46.Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2011).

First Dive In

The first book I retrieved to begin my look into the life and battle accomplishments of Ambrose P. Hill was (cleverly enough) titled "General A.P. Hill". The book, published in 1987, is a detailed account of the General's life from his upbringing in Culpeper, Virginia to his death on the battlefield during the Petersburg Siege in 1865. This will be an ideal biography to get a broad sense of Hill.

A quote from the acknowledgements

" A.P. Hill was a pivotal figure in every major Civil War battle in the eastern theater from 1862 to 1865. Nevertheless, he has been such an obscure figure for the past 125 years that the best photograph of him has never been published until now. One reason for this neglect is that until a collection of Hill's writings was discovered in the preparation of this book, historians believed that none of the general's papers had survived."

"With the help of such previously unused sources, Hill's own story can be told for the first time. Therefore, the overriding object of this study has been to portray people and events as Hill himself saw them. Thus does "Stonewall" Jackson, for example, appear here in a more negative light than usual."

Robertson, James I. General A.P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate General. New
York: Random House, 1987.

The second book that I used when I started my research was Shelby Foote's comprehensive

study "The Civil War". This book will be a good resource for it's attention to military detail and its

lengthy discussion of the different battles that General Hill was involved in. However, due to its

immense volume, this will be a difficult source to grasp in full. It will be useful for minute details

but will not be my go to for information about Hill's personal life.

Foote, Shelby. The Civil War. Vol. 1. New York: Random House, 1958.

The third, and most important, book that I delved into was "War of the Rebellion". General A.P.

Hill's report is contained in Series I, Volume XXVII. It is his report about his Third Corps actions

during the Battle of Gettysburg. The report is obviously valuable for it's first hand account of the

battle, but is difficult to understand out of context. One must be well versed in knowledge about

the Battle of Gettysburg in order to understand it. It is my hope to be able to gain deeper insight

into the battle and Hill's role.

Hill, Ambrose P. "Report of Lieut. Gen. Ambrose P. Hill, C.S. Army, commanding Third Army Corps."

In War of the Rebellion Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Part of Series I,

Volume XXVII, Operations in- North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and

Department of the East, June 8 - August 3, 1863 Gettysburg Campaign. Washington Government

Printing Office 1889. 606-608.