Fort A.P. Hill was dedicated in 1941 as an Army training facility near Bowling Green, Virginia. Its namesake, Ambrose Powell Hill Jr., was a Virginia native and West Point graduate who resigned his commission in the U.S. Army just weeks before his home state seceded from the Union. Hill chose to take up arms against the U.S. government in furtherance of the Confederate goal to maintain slavery and fight against the emancipation of millions of Black people held in bondage.
A.P. Hill commanded forces in Civil War battles including Antietam and the Second Battle of Bull Run, leading Confederate soldiers in the slaughter of many U.S. troops and strengthening the fight for slavery to continue in the South.
Born near Culpeper, Virginia, in 1825, A.P. Hill was the privileged son of a wealthy and well-known family with a storied Southern lineage. That wealth and privilege were reflected in the ties to slavery that surrounded him.
Census records indicate that in 1840, when A.P. was about 15 years old, his father Thomas Hill enslaved 31 Black people.1 1840 U.S. Census, Culpeper County, Virginia, “Thomas Hill,” accessed on Ancestry.com. The elder Hill still enslaved 20 people in 1850, the last decade of his life.2 1850 U.S. Census (“Slave Schedules”), Culpeper County, Virginia, “Thomas Hill,” accessed on FamilySearch.org. Similarly, A.P.’s uncle, after whom he was named, enslaved more than 50 Black people in 1830 and 30 people in 1850.3 1830 U.S. Census, Culpeper County, Virginia, “A P Hill,” accessed on FamilySearch.org; 1850 U.S. Census (Slave Schedule), Culpeper County, Virginia, “Ambrose P Hill,” accessed on FamilySearch.org.
Memorializing a Dishonorable Man
Perhaps most importantly, Confederate veterans and defenders have for generations loudly claimed A.P. Hill as a symbol of their cause and an example of their valor, lauding him as “one of the most picturesque and heroic characters developed by the great war for southern independence.”4 “Virginia’s Hero,” The Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 29, 1892.
In May 1892, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on extravagant plans to mark the unveiling of a 34-foot-tall memorial to A.P. Hill in the Virginia state capital.5 “Virginia’s Hero,” The Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 29, 1892. “The ceremonies will be imposing,” headlines announced. “The military parade one of the largest ever seen in Richmond.” The report continued:
Since the unveiling of the monument of the immortal [Robert E.] Lee on May 29, 1890, the city of Richmond has not seen such a large gathering of old Confederate veterans and members of military organizations as will convene here tomorrow to do honor to the memory of General Ambrose Powell Hill, one of General Lee’s truest and most faithful lieutenants.
Days later, newspapers as far away as Alabama reported on the festivities. “The event brings together thousands of old Confederates at Richmond,” the Montgomery Advertiser described.6 “Ambrose Powell Hill,” Montgomery Advertiser, May 31, 1892.
“Thousands of people witnessed the procession and the unveiling ceremonies. The site located overlooks the battlefield upon which fought the man represented in bronze.”
In 1887, when former soldiers in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, organized themselves into a Confederate veterans camp, they chose A.P. Hill as their camp’s namesake. They later erected an inscribed stone memorial near the site of his death.
And in 1935, the Culpeper Star-Exponent announced that the local courthouse would unveil and display an oil portrait of Hill, calling him “one of the outstanding leaders of the army of the Southern Confederacy.”7 “General Ambrose Powell Hill,” Culpeper Star-Exponent, Oct. 10, 1935.
Despite his place as a revered Confederate figure, Hill was less familiar to the general public by the time Fort A.P. Hill was named. In February 1943, the Fredericksburg, Virginia, Free Lance-Star reported that Hill’s identity was “often unknown to soldiers stationed there and it is the cause of many questions for which the correct answer is not always forthcoming.” Indeed, a 1957 biography of Hill is titled “Lee’s Forgotten General.”
Defying Federal Law
As part of an effort to remove Confederate names from U.S. military installations, the base was rededicated in 2023 as Fort Walker in honor of Mary Walker, a Civil War surgeon and Medal of Honor recipient.
But now, by order of the Trump administration, it is called Fort A.P. Hill once more.
This summer, the administration set out to restore the original Confederate names of nine Army bases without directly violating the 2020 Congressional ban on naming military assets for Confederate veterans. The name “A.P. Hill” presented a particular challenge. In response, President Trump announced that the base would now honor three Medal of Honor recipients: Pvt. Bruce Anderson, 1st Sgt. Robert A. Pinn, and Lt. Col. Edward Hill.
Of course, for efficiency, the name would be abbreviated as “Fort A.P. Hill.”
Legitimizing Slavery and Racial Bigotry
There is no dispute that Hill was a Confederate general who helped wage war on the United States, advancing a cause determined to continue the brutal enslavement of Black people. Just five years ago, a bipartisan group of American lawmakers finally, unequivocally condemned those actions. In 2020, Congress legally declared Confederate soldiers undeserving of U.S. military honors for the first time since the Civil War.
The current effort to reverse that judgment and erase that progress is not a move to honor three new veterans—or even primarily an effort to re-recognize A.P. Hill. These renaming efforts are much more dangerous because they aim to restore a historical narrative that erases the harm of slavery and legitimizes the Confederacy’s shameful acts.