Daniel Harvey Hill Daniel Harvey Hill ( July 12 , 1821 – September 24 , 1889 ) was Confederate general during the American Civil War and a Southern scholar . He was known as an aggressive leader , and as an austere , deeply religious man , with a dry , sarcastic humor . He was brother - in - law to Stonewall Jackson , a close friend to both James Longstreet and Joseph E . Johnston , but disagreements with both Robert E . Lee and Braxton Bragg cost him favor with Confederate President Jefferson Davis . Although his military ability was well respected , he was underutilized by the end of the Civil War due to the aforementioned political reasons . Daniel Harvey Hill is usually referred to as D . H . Hill in historical writing , in part to distinguish him from A . P . Hill , who served with him in the Army of Northern Virginia . Early life . D . H . Hill was born at Hill ' s Iron Works , in York District , South Carolina to Solomon and Nancy Cabeen Hill . His paternal grandfather , Col . William " Billy " Hill , was a native of Ireland who had an iron foundry in York District where he made cannon for the Continental Army . His maternal grandfather was a native of Scotland . Hill graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1842 , ranking 28 out of 56 cadets , and was appointed to the 1st United States Artillery . He distinguished himself in the Mexican - American War , being brevetted to captain for bravery at the Battle of Contreras and Churubusco , and brevetted to major for bravery at the Battle of Chapultepec . In February 1849 , Hill resigned his commission and became a professor of mathematics at Washington College ( now Washington and Lee University ) , in Lexington , Virginia . At Washington he wrote a college textbook for the Southern United States market , " Elements of Algebra " , which " with quiet , sardonic humor , points a finger of ridicule or scorn at any and everything Northern . " While not all of the textbook ' s questions were " anti - Yankee " , many were , such as : By contrast , " Southerners in his problems invariably appear in a favorable light . " In 1854 , he joined the faculty of Davidson College , North Carolina , and was , in 1859 , made superintendent of the North Carolina Military Institute of Charlotte . Marriage and children . On November 2 , 1848 , he married Isabella Morrison , who was the daughter of Robert Hall Morrison , a Presbyterian minister and the first president of Davidson College , and through her mother , a niece of North Carolina Governor William Alexander Graham . They would have nine children in all . One son , Daniel Harvey Hill , Jr . , would serve as president of North Carolina State College , ( now North Carolina State University . ) Their youngest son , Joseph Morrison , would preside as the Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court from 1904 to 1909 . In July 1857 , Isabella ' s younger sister , Mary Anna , married Professor Thomas J . Jackson of the Virginia Military Institute . Hill and Jackson , who would later earn the nickname " Stonewall " as a Confederate officer , had crossed paths during the Mexican - American War , and later developed a closer friendship when both men lived in Lexington , Virginia in the 1850s . Also in 1857 , Jackson endorsed " Elements of Algebra " as " superior to any other work with which I am acquainted on the same branch of science . " Civil War . At the outbreak of the Civil War , D . H . Hill was made colonel of the 1st North Carolina Infantry , at the head of which he won the Battle of Big Bethel , near Fort Monroe , Virginia , on June 10 , 1861 . Shortly after this , he was promoted to brigadier general and commanded troops in the Richmond area . By the spring of 1862 , he was a major general and division commander in the Army of Northern Virginia . He participated in the Yorktown and Williamsburg operations that started the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862 , and as a major general , led a division with great distinction in the Battle of Seven Pines and the Seven Days Battles . Hill ' s division was left in the Richmond area while the rest of the army went north and did not participate in the Northern Virginia Campaign . On July 22 , 1862 , Hill and Union Maj . Gen . John A . Dix concluded an agreement for the general exchange of prisoners between the Union and Confederate armies . This agreement became known as the Dix - Hill Cartel . In the Maryland Campaign of 1862 , Hill ' s men fought at South Mountain . Scattered as far north as Boonsboro , Maryland when the fighting began , the division fought tooth and nail , buying Lee ' s army enough time to concentrate at nearby Sharpsburg . Hill ' s division saw fierce action in the infamous sunken road ( " Bloody Lane " ) at Antietam , and he rallied a few detached men from different brigades to hold the line at the critical moment . He had three horses shot out from under him during the battle . Hill ' s division was largely unengaged at the Battle of Fredericksburg . At this point , conflicts with Lee began to surface . On the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia after Stonewall Jackson ' s death , Hill was not appointed to a corps command . He already had been detached from Lee ' s Army and sent to his home state to recruit troops . During the Gettysburg Campaign he led Confederate reserve troops protecting Richmond , and successfully resisted a half - hearted advance by Union forces under John A . Dix and Erasmus Keyes in late June . In 1863 , he was sent to the newly reorganized Army of Tennessee , with a provisional promotion to lieutenant general , to command one of Gen . Braxton Bragg ' s corps . In the bloody and confused victory at Chickamauga , Hill ' s forces saw some of the heaviest fighting . Afterward , Hill joined several other generals openly condemning Bragg ' s failure to exploit the victory . President Jefferson Davis came to personally resolve this dispute , in Bragg ' s favor , and to the detriment of those unhappy generals . The Army of Tennessee was reorganized again , and Hill was left without a command . Davis then refused to confirm Hill ' s promotion , effectively demoting him back to major general . Because of this , Hill was mostly relegated to the sidelines for the rest of the war and fought in no more significant battles . After that , D . H . Hill commanded as a volunteer in smaller actions away from the major armies . Hill participated in the Battle of Bentonville in North Carolina , the last , sad fight of the Army of Tennessee . Hill was a division commander when he , along with Gen . Joseph E . Johnston , surrendered on April 26 , 1865 . Postbellum career . From 1866 to 1869 , Hill edited a magazine , " The Land We Love " , at Charlotte , North Carolina , which dealt with social and historical subjects , and had a great influence in the South . In 1877 , he became the first president of the University of Arkansas , a post that he held until 1884 , and , in 1885 , president of the Military and Agricultural College of Milledgeville , Georgia until August 1889 , when he resigned due to failing health . General Hill died at Charlotte the following month , and was buried in Davidson College Cemetery . In memoriam . The main library at North Carolina State University is named after Daniel Harvey Hill , Jr . ( 1859 – 1924 ) , the son of Gen . D . H . Hill .