Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 33.djvu/29

 A Vindication of Gen. D. H. Hill 25

"RECOLLECTIONS OF A CONFEDERATE STAFF OFFICER BY GEN. G. M. SORREL."

A Correction, and a Vindication of Gen. D. H. Hill.

This communication, in admirable spirit, from the Times-Dis- patch of Oct. i, 1905, justly finds place in the Southern Historical Society Papers. ED.

RICHMOND, VA., September 27, 1905. Editor Times- Dispatch;

Sir, I have just read the late General Sorrel's charming "Rec- ollections of a Confederate Staff Officer," and desire to correct an error in regard to myself, into which the writer has inadvertently fallen. On page 107 the impression is made on the reader that I was on dutyias General D. H. Hill's adjutant general in 1862, near Frederick, Maryland, at the time when it is alleged that General Hill or an officer of his staff lost an important order from General Lee, which fell into McClellan's hands. I was not with General D. H. Hill at that period of the campaign. I had been wounded, as his official report shows, in a skirmish immediately after his division crossed the Potomac, had been sent back to Leesburg, and was un- able to rejoin him untill about three hours before the army began to move from the field of Sharpsburg to recross the Potomac, But, while I have pen in hand, let me say a word on a more important subject. I cannot refrain from expressing my regret that this inte- resting book deserving and destined to be widely read conveys an inadequate estimate of the great military virtues of General D. H. Hill. It seems to me that the gallant Sorrel might have judged more generously the commander of a victorious division at Seven Pines, the stout fighter of the seven days before Richmond, the heroic leader of the rear guard at South Mountain, the stubborn soldier who stood at bay at Sharpsburg. But history will some day give an impartial verdict on these matters. In that final judgment Hill's just fame will perhaps not suffer from his faults of manner or asperities of speech.

I am very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ARCHER ANDERSON.