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Collection Reference Number GLC02382.053
From Archive Folder Collection of Henry Jackson Hunt 
Title John Gibbon to Henry Jackson Hunt describing the Gettysburg Cyclorama
Date 6 September 1884
Author Gibbon, John (1827-1896)  
Recipient Hunt, Henry Jackson  
Document Type Correspondence
Content Description Signed "JG." Describes the Gettysburg Cyclorama, a large painting by Paul D. Philippotteaux, ca. 1882. Mentions, "I send you a rude sketch..." (not included). The first copy, made in Chicago is now (1993) in private hands. The second copy, made for Boston, was transferred to Gettysburg (ca. 1913) where it currently resides under the care of the National Park Service. Copies 3 (Philadelphia) and 4 (Brooklyn) were destroyed.
Subjects Battle of Gettysburg  Union General  Military History  Battle  Union Forces  Civil War  Art, Music, Theater, and Film  
People Gibbon, John (1827-1896)  Hunt, Henry Jackson (1819-1889)  
Place written Omaha, Nebraska
Theme The American Civil War; Arts & Literature
Sub-collection Papers and Images of the American Civil War
Additional Information Folder information: Henry Jackson Hunt was Chief of the Artillery in the Army of the Potomac. Considered by his contemporaries the greatest artillery tactician and strategist of the war, he was a master of the science of gunnery and rewrote the manual on the organization and the use of artillery in early modern armies: Instruction for field artillery. Prepared by a board of artillery officers, consisting of Captain Wm. H. French...Captain Wm. F. Barry...Captain H.J. Hunt...To which is added The evolutions of batteries, tr. from the French by Brigadier General R. Anderson (New York, D. Van Nostrand, 1864). Hunt was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Samuel Wellington Hunt, a career infantry officer. As a child he accompanied his father in 1827 to the Kansas Territory on an expedition to found Fort Leavenworth. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1839 as second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Artillery. He served in the Mexican War where he was elevated to captain and major. Hunt received attention when in the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, his four-gun battery covered the retreat of a Union force with an artillery duel. He soon afterword became the chief of artillery in defense of Washington, D.C. As a colonel on the staff of McClellan, he organized and trained the artillery reserve and fought in the Peninsular Campaign. His keen work influenced battles at Malvern Hill, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. His most famous service occurred at Gettysburg. He served in Virginia through the end of the war. Following the Civil War, Hunt held various military posts. He served as president of the permanent Artillery Board. He also served at Fort Sullivan, Eastport, Maine (1868), Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island (1869-1872 definitely, and possibly until 1874), military commander at Charleston, South Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia (1875-1880), commander, Department of the South (1880-1883), and as Governor of the Soldier's Home in Washington D.C. (1883-1889). Gibbon was loyal to the Union though he had three brothers fighting for the Confederacy. An 1847 West Point graduate. After serving several months as McDowell's chief artillerist, was granted a brigadier's star and assigned to the only all-Western brigade serving with the armies in Virginia. Led the brigade at Antietam and was wounded at Fredericksburg while commanding a division. He returned to fight at Chancellorsville and was seriously wounded at Gettysburg on the final day. Returned for the spring 1864 campaign and was mustered out but remained on active duty, serving against the Indians with the Little Big Horn campaign. Hunt was governor of the Soldiers' Home in Washington, D.C. from 1883 until his death.
Copyright The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945
Civil War: Theater of War Main Eastern Theater  
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