"What if" God did intervene in our Civil War...

Jim Klag

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R. E. Lee - "Tell Hill he must come up. Strike the tent"

Stonewall - "Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly! Tell Major Hawks . . . Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees."
 

diane

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Pretty much. Both called for A. P. Hill in some fashion.
Stonewall Jackson calling for Hill was certain - Chancellorsville had only been a short time ago and he was reliving the battle. Little Powell was with his group when Berry's men opened up on them, and saved Jackson's life by knowing how to use a tourniquet. But, he sure had the best last words ever: Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees. There was a roomful of people who witnessed all this, so it's definitely what happened.

Lee, it's actually doubtful he had any last words. Recent studies of the type of stroke he had show damage to the part of the brain controlling will - his wife related she could, say, press his hand and he would return it, but he could not initiate an action nor did he ever speak again. He'd come in from a church meeting and, it seems, Lee's last words were spoken at that meeting! The church elders were quibbling about how to pay for an improvement and Lee, who really wanted to get home and eat his supper, suddenly said, "I will pay that sum." (Somehow, that seems to be an even more appropriate 'last word' for Lee.) A student at the college met Lee walking in the rain toward his house and stopped to talk with him, but Lee said nothing. When he got home, Mary chatted at him but again he said nothing. Then, when they sat down to dinner, he was supposed to say the blessing but nothing came out - apparently there was a second event. Mary related that he looked at her in a startled way and she believed he died right then! It just took a while for his body to realize it. When Lee died, they were listening for his last words - very important in that day - but likely what was heard was sounds, not words. His son, Robert Jr, recorded he had called for Hill and said "Strike the tent". He didn't hear this himself - he was on his way but didn't make it before his father died, so someone else told him.

Just incidentally, A P Hill and Lee became quite close at the end of the war. For one thing, Little Powell was the last general standing - all the rest had been killed or severely wounded. Hill had a very compassionate side to him and Lee found this general was a good friend and confidante - sometimes he needed a shoulder to lean on and Hill was there. Until he wasn't. One day riding a scout he was shot out of his saddle by Union soldiers he came across - and he probably wasn't unhappy about this turn of events. He was dying - uremic poisoning from kidney failure - and he didn't want to see Richmond fall. No suicide, as some have suggested, just Hill being Hill - he impulsively came forward beside his aide and got shot.
 
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