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.
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