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The site where Confederate Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill was killed on the last day of the Siege of Petersburg, April 2, 1865, is marked by a small monument. Two nearby markers also commemorate his death.
Where Hill Fell Virginia historical marker
Monument to the Memory of A.P. Hill
Monument at the ‘Spot Where Hill Was Killed’
The Story of the Death of A.P. Hill
Confederate Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill was at Lee’s headquarters on the morning of April 2, 1865, when reports arrived of supply wagons wildly retreating and Federal troops behind the Confederate lines. Hill was third in seniority in the Army of Northern Virginia, commander of the Third Army Corps since it was created in June of 1863 and senior officer in command of all the troops south of the Appomattox River.
Hill quickly headed out with two couriers, Jenkins and Tucker, to rally his men to try to stop the breakthrough. Concerned with Hill’s reckless attitude, Lee sent his aide, Lieutenant Colonel C.S. Venable, to accompany Hill with a plea to not expose himself.
The four men soon encountered Union troops. They took two prisoners, sending them to the rear with Jenkins. Hill then sent Colonel Venable off to position Poage’s Artillery Battalon, which was bivouacked on a nearby hill.
Hill proceeded with Sergeant G.W. Tucker, his sergeant of couriers. He hoped to skirt around the Union breakthrough to reach the headquarters of Heth’s Division but he knew the risk – he told Tucker that if anything happened to him Tucker was to immediately head back to report to Lee.
He and Tucker were moving through the woods to the northwest of Boydton Plank Road when they ran into more Union troops, two of whom were very close by behind a tree. Hill told Tucker, “We must take them!” and spurred forward. Tucker called to Hill to stay back and that he would take them, but Hill rode with Tucker to within twenty yards of the Federals. Tucker called out, “If you fire, you’ll be swept to hell! Our men are here – surrender!” and then, when the Fedrals’ rifles stayed up, Hill ordered, “Surrender your arms!”
One of the rifles wavered but the second man shouted back, “I can’t see it!” and to his companion, “Let us shoot them.” Both fired. One round flew wide, but the second clipped off Hill’s thumb and pierced his heart. Tucker had already grabbed the bridle of Hill’s horse to lead him to safety, and as they galloped off he looked back to see Hill on the ground, arms outstretched and motionless.
When Robert E. Lee was told of Hill’s death he burst into tears. “He is at rest now,” he said, “and we who are left are the ones to suffer.”
