Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 19.djvu/188

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

182 Southern Historical Society Papers.

HIS APOLOGY.

When General Miles surrendered at Harper's Ferry, he was dressed so fine and Hill so plainly, that Miles apologized for his good clothes, saying he expected to meet some of the high officials of the Confederacy, and had therefore put on his best uniform.

GET TO THE REAR.

At the battle of Cedar Mountain, General Prince was captured and taken to General Hill, just in rear of the Confederate line, where the minnie balls were flying briskly around.

General Prince said : " General, the fortunes of war have thrown me in your hands."

Hill with impetuosity said : " D n the fortunes of war, Gen- eral ; get to the rear; you are in danger here."

Hill's duties required him to undergo the exposure, but he could not bear the idea of having even an enemy unnecessarily exposed.

Breaking camp at Castleman's Ferry, in November, we moved up the Valley, crossed the Blue Ridge by the turnpike from Newmar- ket to Gordonsville, and marched toward Fredericksburg, which we reached (or the vicinity of it) about December i, 1862.

At this time I was relieved of duty by the return of Major Hill, and went back to my brigade, which had lost its beloved Branch at Sharpsburg, and was now under command of Brigadier- General James H. Lane, who had earned his promotion while in command of the Twenty-eighth North Carolina, one of the regiments of that hard- fought brigade.

CLOSING INCIDENTS.

The battle of Fredericksburg passed and so did the winter, when the spring-time called us to Chancellorsville, the sad scene of the wound- ing of Stonewall Jackson. General Hill was wounded near the same spot and about the same time. He was not in command for a day or so, but was an interested spectator of that heated engagement which was under the direct command of General J. E. B. Stuart. This over, a reorganization, so to speak, took place. General A. P. Hill was made lieutenant-general and W. D. Pender major-general of Hill's Light division. From then on I only saw General Hill occa- sionally. But our friendship for it was nothing less than that- continued to the end. And on the morning of the 2d of April, 1865,