Lieutenant-General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Daniel Harvey Hill (July 12, 1821 – September 24, 1889), commonly known as D. H. Hill, was a senior
officer of the
Confederate States Army who commanded
infantry in the
eastern and
western theaters of the
American Civil War.
Hill was known as an aggressive leader, being severely strict, deeply religious and having dry, sarcastic humor. He was brother-in-law to
Stonewall Jackson
Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, considered one of the best-known Confederate commanders, after Robert E. Lee. He played a prominent role in nearl ...
, a close friend to both
James Longstreet
James Longstreet (January 8, 1821January 2, 1904) was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse". He served under Lee as a corps ...
and
Joseph E. Johnston, but disagreements with both
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
and
Braxton Bragg cost him favor with Confederate President
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
. Although his military ability was well respected, Hill was underutilized by the end of the American Civil War on account of these political feuds.
Early life and education
Daniel Harvey Hill was born at Hill's Iron Works, in
York District, South Carolina to Solomon and Nancy Cabeen Hill. His paternal grandfather, William "Billy" Hill, was a native of
Ireland who had an iron foundry in York District where he made cannon for the
Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
. His maternal grandfather was a native of
Scotland. Hill graduated from the
United States Military Academy in 1842, ranking 28 out of 56 cadets, and was appointed to the 1st United States Artillery as a brevet 2nd Lieutenant. He was transferred to the 3rd Artillery on 20 October 1843. Hill was promoted to 2nd Lt. On 13 Oct 1845 in the 4th Artillery Regt. He was promoted to 1st Lt on 3 March 1847. As his regiment served as infantry, he distinguished himself in the
Mexican–American War, being
brevetted to captain for bravery at the
Battle of Contreras
The Battle of Contreras, also known as the Battle of Padierna, took place on 19–20 August 1847, in one of the final encounters of the Mexican–American War, as invading U.S. forces under Winfield Scott approached the Mexican capital. Americ ...
and
Churubusco
Churubusco is a neighbourhood of Mexico City. Under the current territorial division of the Mexican Federal District, it is a part of the borough ''(delegación)'' of Coyoacán. It is centred on the former Franciscan monastery ''(ex convento de C ...
, and brevetted to major for bravery at the
Battle of Chapultepec
The Battle of Chapultepec was a battle between American forces and Mexican forces holding the strategically located Chapultepec Castle just outside Mexico City, fought 13 September 1847 during the Mexican–American War. The building, sitting a ...
.
Among the people enslaved by the Hill family during Daniel Harvey's youth was
Elias Hill, whom Daniel Harvey helped teach to read and write and who later became a preacher and led his congregation in emigrating to Liberia after the Ku Klux Klan terrorized his neighborhood.
[Witt, John Fabian. ''Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law''. Harvard University Press, June 30, 2009 p. 85–86, 128–149]
In February 1849, Daniel Harvey Hill resigned his commission and became a professor of mathematics at Washington College (now
Washington and Lee University), in
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...
.
While living in Lexington, he wrote a college textbook for the
Southern United States market, ''Elements of Algebra'', which "with quiet, sardonic humor, points a finger of ridicule or scorn at any and everything Northern." While not all of the textbook's questions were "anti-Yankee", many were, such as:
By contrast, "Southerners in his problems invariably appear in a favorable light."
In 1854, he joined the faculty of
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan ...
,
North Carolina, and was, in 1859, made superintendent of the
North Carolina Military Institute
North Carolina Military Institute was established in 1858. Daniel Harvey Hill was made superintendent of the school in 1859 and James H. Lane taught natural philosophy (physics) at the Institute until the start of the U.S. Civil War.Eicher, p. 33 ...
of
Charlotte.
American Civil War
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, D.H. Hill was made colonel of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers, the "Bethel Regiment", at the head of which he won the
Battle of Big Bethel, near
Fort Monroe,
Virginia, on June 10, 1861. Shortly after this, on July 10, 1861, he was promoted to
brigadier general and commanded troops in the Richmond area. By the spring of 1862, he was a major general and division commander in the Army of Northern Virginia. He participated in the
Yorktown and
Williamsburg
Williamsburg may refer to:
Places
*Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia
*Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City
*Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California
*Williams ...
operations that started the
Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862, and as a
major general, led a division with great distinction in the
Battle of Seven Pines and the
Seven Days Battles.
Hill's division was left in the Richmond area while the rest of the army went north and did not participate in the
Northern Virginia Campaign.
On July 22, 1862, Hill and
Union Maj. Gen. John A. Dix concluded an agreement for the general exchange of prisoners between the Union and Confederate armies, known as the
Dix-Hill Cartel. This established a scale of equivalents, where an officer would be exchanged for a fixed number of enlisted men, and also allowed for the parole of prisoners, who would undertake not to serve in a military capacity until officially exchanged. (The cartel worked well for a few months, but broke down when Confederates insisted on treating black prisoners as fugitive slaves and returning them to their previous owners.)
In the
Maryland Campaign of 1862, Hill's men fought at
South Mountain South Mountain or South Mountains may refer to:
Canada
* South Mountain, a village in North Dundas, Ontario
* South Mountain (Nova Scotia), a mountain range
* South Mountain (band), a Canadian country music group
United States
Landforms
* Sou ...
. Scattered as far north as
Boonsboro, Maryland when the fighting began, the division fought tooth and nail, buying Lee's army enough time to concentrate at nearby Sharpsburg. Hill's division saw fierce action in the infamous sunken road ("Bloody Lane") at
Antietam, and he rallied a few detached men from different brigades to hold the line at the critical moment. Confederate defeat was largely due to the interception by McClellan of a
Special Order
Special or specials may refer to:
Policing
* Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force
* Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer
Literature
* ''Specia ...
from Lee to his generals, revealing the movements of his widely separated divisions. Some have claimed that D.H. Hill received two copies of this order, of which one went astray. But Hill said he received only one copy.
Hill's division was largely unengaged at the
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnsi ...
. At this point, conflicts with Lee began to surface. On the reorganization of the
Army of Northern Virginia after Stonewall Jackson's death, Hill was not appointed to a corps command.
He already had been detached from Lee's Army and sent to his home state to recruit troops. During the
Gettysburg Campaign he led Confederate reserve troops protecting Richmond, and successfully resisted a half-hearted advance by Union forces under
John A. Dix and
Erasmus Keyes
Erasmus Darwin Keyes (May 29, 1810 – October 14, 1895) was a businessman, banker, and military general, noted for leading the IV Corps of the Union Army of the Potomac during the first half of the American Civil War.
Early life and career
Keyes ...
in late June.
In 1863, he was sent to
Gen.
The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; Hebrew language, Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its i ...
Braxton Bragg's newly reorganized
Army of Tennessee, with a promotion to
lieutenant general, to command
one of its corps. Hill had served under Bragg in Mexico and was initially pleased to be reunited with an old friend, but the warm feelings did not last long. In the bloody and confused victory at
Chickamauga, Hill's forces saw some of the heaviest fighting. Afterward, Hill joined several other generals openly condemning Bragg's failure to exploit the victory.
President Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
came to personally resolve this dispute, in Bragg's favor, and to the detriment of those unhappy generals. The Army of Tennessee was reorganized again, and Hill was left without a command. Davis then refused to forward Hill's appointment to the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, and he reverted to major general. Because of this, Hill saw less fighting throughout the remainder of the war.
After that, D.H. Hill commanded as a volunteer in smaller actions away from the major armies. Hill participated in the
Battle of Bentonville in North Carolina, the last fight of the Army of Tennessee. Hill was a division commander when he, along with Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston, surrendered on April 26, 1865.
Later life
From 1866 to 1869, Hill edited a magazine, ''
The Land We Love
__NOTOC__
''The Land We Love'' was an American little magazine. It was founded in May 1866 by Daniel Harvey Hill, a former Confederate general, who edited it until March 1869. The eponymous land was the Southland, and the magazine recounted the ...
'', at
Charlotte, North Carolina, which dealt with social and historical subjects, and had a great influence in the South. In 1877, he became one of the first presidents of the
University of Arkansas, a post that he held until 1884, and, in 1885, president of the
Military and Agricultural College of Milledgeville,
Georgia until August 1889, when he resigned due to failing health. General Hill died at Charlotte the following month, and was buried in Davidson College Cemetery.
Personal life
On November 2, 1848, he married Isabella Morrison, who was the daughter of Robert Hall Morrison, a Presbyterian minister and the first president of
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan ...
, and through her mother, a niece of
North Carolina Governor
William Alexander Graham. They would have nine children in all. One son,
Daniel Harvey Hill Jr., would serve as president of North Carolina State College (now
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...
). Their youngest son,
Joseph Morrison, would preside as the Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court from 1904 to 1909.
In July 1857, Isabella's younger sister,
Mary Anna, married Professor
Thomas J. Jackson
Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, considered one of the best-known Confederate commanders, after Robert E. Lee. He played a prominent role in near ...
of the
Virginia Military Institute. Hill and Jackson, who would later earn the nickname "Stonewall" as a Confederate officer, had crossed paths during the Mexican–American War, and later developed a closer friendship when both men lived in
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...
in the 1850s.
Also in 1857, Jackson endorsed ''Elements of Algebra'' as "superior to any other work with which I am acquainted on the same branch of science."
Selected works
* ''College Discipline: An Inaugural Address Delivered at Davidson College, N.C., on February 28, 1855''.
. p.: n. p. 1855. 19 p.; 23 cm.
OCLC 7195350* ''Elements of Algebra''. Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott,
857 1859. xii,
3507 p. tables 22 cm.
OCLC 19591232''Elements of Algebra'' by Maj. D. H. Hill. Google Books pdf of the complete 1857 edition.* ''A Consideration of the Sermon on the Mount''. Philadelphia, PA: W. S. & A. Martien, 1858, 1859. 3 p.l.,
282 p. 19 cm.
OCLC 7195011e-Book version Ann Arbor, Mich.: Making of America, 2000
OCLC 612157953* ''The Crucifixion of Christ''. Philadelphia, PA: W.S. & A. Martien, 1859. 345 p. 20 cm
OCLC 4392161* ''Remarks of Major D. H. Hill of the N.C. Military Institute at Charlotte, before the Committee on Education of the North Carolina Legislature''.
orth Carolina: n. p., 1860? 1 sheet (
p.) ; 49 x 30 cm
OCLC 41374540* Gen. Hill founded and edited ''The Land We Love: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Literature, Military History, and Agriculture''. 6 vols. Charlotte, NC: J.P. Irwin & D.H. Hill, 1866-1869. Sabin No. 38821. This magazine merged with ''The New Eclectic Magazine'' of Baltimore, MD. Subsequently, it was called ''The Southern Magazine''
OCLC 752793193OCLC Record Containing Contents List for Issues of ''The Land We Love''.
* ''The Old South: An Address Delivered by Lieutenant-General D.H. Hill, at Ford's Grand Opera House, on Memorial Day, June 6, 1887, before the Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States in the State of Maryland.'' Baltimore, MD: Andrew J. Conlon, 1887. 23 p. ; 23 cm
OCLC 5315299
See also
*
List of Confederate States Army generals
References
Further reading
* Bridges, Hal. ''Lee's Maverick General: Daniel Harvey Hill''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. . First published 1961 by McGraw-Hill.
* Eicher, John H., and
David J. Eicher, ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. .
*
Evans, Clement A., ed
''Confederate Military History: A Library of Confederate States History'' 12 vols. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899. .
* Hawkins, Vincent B. "Daniel Harvey Hill." In ''
Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography
''The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography'' () was written by Trevor N. Dupuy, Curt Johnson and David Bongard, and was issued in 1992 by HarperCollins Publishers. It contains more than three thousand short biographies of military figures fr ...
'', edited by
Trevor N. Dupuy
Trevor Nevitt Dupuy (May 3, 1916 – June 5, 1995) was a colonel in the United States Army and a noted military historian.
Early life
Born in Staten Island, New York, the son of accomplished illustrator and artist, Laura Nevitt Dupuy, and noted ...
, Curt Johnson, and David L. Bongard. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. .
*
Johnson, Robert Underwood, and Clarence C. Buel, eds
''Battles and Leaders of the Civil War'' 4 vols. New York: Century Co., 1884-1888. .
* Owen, Richard, and James Owen. ''Generals at Rest: The Grave Sites of the 425 Official Confederate Generals''. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Co., 1997. .
* Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts On File, 1988. .
* U.S. War Department
''The War of the Rebellion'' ''a Compilation of the
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies''. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
Online biography of Hill*
Warner, Ezra J. ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. .
External links
*
Daniel Harvey Hillby Don L. Morrill, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission website
by Dr. Don L. Morrill, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission website
Wife Of Confederate General Daniel Harvey Hill
North Carolina History Project: Daniel Harvey Hill (1821-1889)by Troy L. Kickler.
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