What was wrong with A.P. Hill?
Douglas Southall Freeman in his three volumes on Lee’s Lieutenants noted that Hill’s deterioration resembled almost something like tuberculosis. However, it was Freeman’s opinion that Hill suffered from a psychosomatic illness. In other words, Freeman felt that the promotion to command of a corps was too much for Hill to handle. Therefore, he would suffer anxiety and become physically ill on the eve of or during battles. Freeman wrote: “Chance or a psychosomatic malady left Powell Hill unable, after the first day’s fighting [at the Wilderness], to exercise field command. He did not recover until the most serious fighting was over at Spotsylvania, but he did his utmost to keep in touch with his troops.” Following in the tradition of Freeman was Southern historian Clifford Dowdey. Dowdey, while he did not write a Hill biography, was like Freeman, interested in the Army of Northern Virginia and its generals. He wrote several articles on Hill and described him in detail in his books on the