Battles & Leaders of the Civil War: Chickamauga, The Great Battle of the West

Daniel Harvey Hill or D.H. Hill (July 12, 1821 – September 24, 1889) was a Confederate general during the Civil War who was known as an aggressive leader, and as an austere, deeply religious man, with a dry, sarcastic humor. He was brother-in-law to Stonewall Jackson and a close friend to both James Longstreet and Joseph E. Johnston, but disagreements with both Robert E. Lee and Braxton Bragg cost him favor with Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Although his military ability was well respected, he was underutilized by the end of the Civil War due to the aforementioned political reasons. Longstreet would later incur the wrath of some of his former Confederate comrades by writing that Hill was not given command of a corps due to political intrigue, which was considered an implicit criticism of Lee.

After the war, Hill wrote an account of the Battle of Chickamauga that was published in the well known Battles & Leaders series. One of the biggest battles in the Western theater, Braxton Bragg’s Confederate army routed the Union Army of the Cumberland led by William Rosecrans, but the retreating Federals were rallied by George H. Thomas, forever known as the “Rock of Chickamauga,” and they made a defensive stand that allowed the Union army to regroup and retreat in an orderly fashion back to Chattanooga. However, Hill’s feuding with Bragg led to the latter suspending him from his command. Hill’s account hints at the feuding between Bragg and others like Leonidas Polk and James Longstreet.

This edition is specially formatted with images of the important military commanders.