abhorrence of the Yankees, your faith in the justice of your cause, your determination to be free, grow in strength from day to day until your heroism and your toils are rewarded with an honorable peace.

D. H. HILL,

Lieutenant-General.

RICHMOND, VA., November 13, 1863.,

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General:

GENERAL: I have the honor to request that a court of inquiry may be ordered to investigate my conduct while connected with the Army of Tennessee. I was relieved from duty with that army immediately after a great battle, and the natural impression given by that action is, that the removal was for some delinquency, mismanagement, or misconduct in the field. My reputation has already suffered, and is likely to suffer still more, in consequence of this implied censure; and this must be especially so, inasmuch as there are no charges against me and every one is at liberty to imagine what he pleases-cowardice, insubordination,&c. It is to be hoped that the War Department will order this court at an early date as a simple act of justice to an officer who has the consciousness of having done his whole duty since the opening of the war.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

D. H. HILL,

Lieutenant-General.

[Indorsement.]

NOVEMBER 16, 1863.

Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War.

I do not conceive that the Ninety-first and Ninety-second Articles of War contemplate the ordering courts of inquiry in cases like this. If a court should be conceded to Lieutenant-General Hill on this application, every officer relieved from command would have an equal right to demand a court, and such a course would tend to encourage insubordination, to the great injury of the service. A court in the present instance would, it appears to me, be an investigation into the conduct of the general who gave the order,and not into the conduct of the officers who received the order; and in this view it would rest with the general who gave the order to determine whether he will or not ask for the investigation.

S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General.

RICHMOND, VA.,. November 17, 1863.

General G. W. C. LEE:

GENERAL: I have the honor to ask you for a copy of General Bragg's note to the President asking for my removal from the Army of Tennessee.* My address is Charlotte, N. C.

I am, general, with great respect,

D. H. HILL,

Lieutenant-General.

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*See p. 148.

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