January 12, 1863 (Monday): A. P. Hill Requests A Court Martial

General A. P. Hill

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
January 12, 1863.
Major General A. P. HILL,
Commanding, &c.:
    GENERAL: Your letter of the 8th instant is received. At the time the charges preferred by General Jackson were first brought to my attention, in September last, I was unable to give them a careful examination, and have no recollection of having made any indorsement indicating an opinion as to their correctness, as intimated in your letter of the 30th September.
    I do not think that in every case where an officer is arrested there is a necessity for a trial by a court-martial, and I consider yours one in which such a proceeding is unnecessary.
    A commanding officer has the right to make an arrest, and to release the office arrested without prosecuting the matter further, when, in his judgment, the exigencies of the service require such a course. An arrest is often resorted to in order to give point and prominence to an expression of disapprobation, even when, in the opinion of the officer making it, the act is not one requiring a judicial investigation.
     The exercise of this power may sometimes appear harsh, and in some cases may actually be so. But the power itself is one too important and essential to the maintenance of discipline to be denied because it may be abused. In the present instance, General Jackson exerted this authority for what he thought at the time good and sufficient reasons. He exercises a discretion which you or any other commanding officer must use, and which, I have said above, must be committed to superior officers for the good of the service.
    In deciding whether the supposed offense is one which the rights of the person arrested of the good of the service requires to be brought before a court-martial, other considerations than those which induce the arrest must be taken into account.
     Upon examining the charges in question, I am of the opinion that in the interests of the service do not require that they should be tried, and have, therefore, returned them to General Jackson with an indorsement to that effect. I hope you will concur with me that their further prosecution is unnecessary, so far as you are consented, and will be of no advantage to the service.
     Very respectfully, your obedient servant,


    R. E. LEE,
    General.

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 19, Part 2, Page 732.

A. P. Hill had requested a transfer to get away from James Longstreet.  Things did not improve for him with his new commanding officer, Stonewall Jackson.  They quarreled during the Cedar Mountain campaign over Jackson's belief Hill had ignored his orders for an early march.  They clashed again during the Antietam Campaign, with Jackson placing Hill under arrest.  Ironically, Hill came up late in the day from Harper's Ferry to save the Confederate army at Antietam.  After the battle Hill repeatedly sought a court martial to vindicate his reputation.  Lee, ever the diplomat, tried to avoid bringing the case before a military court.  Hill believed since Jackson's arrest of him had gained public notice that a trial was required which would bring equally negative attention to Jackson.  The case was never resolved, with Lee and Jackson having no desire to see it brought forward and Jackson ultimately dying from wounds after the battle of Chancellorsville.