GDG- Gettysburg The second day

[cygnus]

are you implying Saint Robert made a mistake?


Thanks
Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chet Diestel" <chetd1 at comcast.net>
To: "GDG" <gettysburg at arthes.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 7:51 AM
Subject: Re: GDG- Gettysburg The second day


> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "keith mackenzie" <bluzdad at yahoo.com>
> To: "GDG" <gettysburg at arthes.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 5:04 AM
> Subject: Re: GDG- Gettysburg The second day
>
>
> Esteemed GDG Member Keith MacKenzie Contributes:
>
> hey, come on, cut the guy some slack! He was ill, possibly a flare up of 
> the VD he picked up at West Point when he was a cadet. I think.
>   K.
>
>   Cutting Hill  "some slack" as a human being is one thing, but cutting 
> him "some slack" as a corps commander with the lives of thousands of men 
> resting on his shoulders when he was chronically ill was something else.
>   Hill's "delicate constitution," to use the phrasing of the day, was 
> certainly known to Lee when he promoted him to command of the new III 
> Corps less than two months before Gettysburg. Indeed, Hill had a long 
> history of illness dating back to his cadet days at West Point where he 
> was infected by gonorrhea, the effects of which resulted in a chronic 
> infection which severely impaired his renal functions as well as causing 
> uremia and all the disabilities associated with it.
>  In short, Hill, given his state of health --- which, in effect, was that 
> of a dying man --- by the summer of 1863 had no place commanding troops in 
> the field. Medical surgeons were not blind or ignorant of the obvious 
> symptoms and given the smallness of the Old Army, his ailment and the 
> treatment it can be assumed was well known, at least in passing. After 
> all, it delayed his graduation from West Point by a year.
>  And one would assume the general commanding the ANV would be aware of 
> this, especially an officer as close to him as A.P. Hill was --- perhaps 
> much too close.
>  It would seem he got the promotion and kept it more for what he had 
> been --- a good and efficient brigade and division commander --- than what 
> he was capable of doing two years into the war.
>  But then that raises the whole question of the reorganization of the ANV 
> and why Lee chose as he did.
>    With regards,
>              Chet
>
>                   ----------------------------------------------------------------
> You may unsubscribe by going to 
> http://mailman.arthes.com/mailman/listinfo/gettysburg
>
> You can add yourself to the GDG map at: 
> http://www.frappr.com/gettysburgdiscussiongroup
>
> View archived posts from May 2004 -  present at 
> http://mailman.arthes.com/pipermail/gettysburg/