General A.P. Hill

I cannot take credit for saying this but a friend of mine relayed this to me many years ago and I kept it in a file and just discovered it again and thought I would put it on this thread.

A little aside about A.P. Hill, CSA

Someone once told me this story...He'd been watching the History Channel...I'll let him go with it from here:

Antietam...I have a western prejudice to the war. But I'd have to live in a cave to not basically know all I need to know about the battle. And me being me, the battle is key to my hero of the war, A.P. Hill.

Watching the History Channel....bah! I was hit again of the impact of A.P. Hill on the war.....as they said on the show. I'm glad too. A.P. Hill is a much more important person, and well...anyway....his story should be better told.....well, the guy on the show said Hollywood wouldn't dare try it...and he said, It wasn't the 'Eleventh Hour' .it was the 11th hour, 59th minute, 59th second.......A.P. Hill made the 17 mile march in a time that impressed every General in the war.

He left half his men dead or dying or wished they were, on his way. The JUST as Burnsides overwhelming-size-and-ready-to-fight men....JUST as they are to attack. Wham!....A.P. Hill brought tears of relief to Lee's eyes that day. He did not wait for anything. He saw Blue and attacked.....half strength.

The men he's got are totally exhausted. Not all together by God, he doesn't hesitate a lick. He knew the score. Bigger army? Up against odds that should have been against him. Many a general would have vacillated, To wit for the rest of his troops in face of what was Antietam. But Wham. Blindsided Burnsides completely.

Burnsides actually owed A.P. Hill something like $8,000 that Hill loaned him to get his Burnside's Rifle made. But Hill's actions that day, while no different than in all the battlefields he lived on, on THAT day.....it literally saved the CSA. Without Hill....well, the war went on two more years.

THEA