General A.P. Hill’s Account of Gettysburg and the Pennsylvania Campaign

Ambrose Powell Hill, better known as A.P. Hill (November 9, 1825 – April 2, 1865), was a well known Confederate general in the Civil War who was noted for his command of “Hill’s Light Division” under Stonewall Jackson. After Jackson’s death, he commanded the Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia until he was killed around Petersburg in the last week of the war. 

Known to his soldiers as Little Powell, A.P. Hill graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1847, ranking 15th in a class of 38 graduates. He was appointed to the 1st U.S. Artillery as a second lieutenant and served in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars. However, he is best remembered for being engaged to Ellen B. Marcy, the future wife of Hill's West Point friend George B. McClellan, before her parents pressured her to break off the engagement.

Hill provided an official account of his Corps’ participation in the Pennsylvania Campaign, most notably, of course, at Gettysburg, where it was one of his divisions (Heth’s) which encountered Union cavalry on the outskirts of town and started what would become the biggest battle ever fought in North America. Hill’s account was preserved in The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. This edition includes pictures of Hill and other important commanders.