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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC02382.088 |
| From Archive Folder | Collection of Henry Jackson Hunt |
| Title | Emily Virginia Mason to Henry Jackson Hunt regarding Robert E. Lee |
| Date | 24 April [1871] |
| Author | Mason, Emily Virginia (1815-1909) |
| Recipient | Hunt, Henry Jackson |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Year inferred from content. Mason has received Hunt's account of Robert E. Lee's passage through the pedegral (a lava field), during the Mexican American War. Intends to obtain more information on Lee from McClellan, whom Lee served with in Mexico, and Professor French at West Point. Notes that she was Lee's friend and neighbor in Arlington, Virginia. Hesitates to ask Mary Randolph Custis Lee, R. E. Lee's widow, about his early military career, since these reflections must be painful for her. General Samuel Cooper, could help her, though he and his wife suffer extreme poverty. Has considered asking Cooper's Northern friends for monetary help, but knows this would offend his pride, since he served the South during the Civil War. |
| Subjects | Women's History Union General Confederate General or Leader Mexican War Latin and South America Global History and Civics West Point (US Military Academy) Poverty Finance Military History |
| People | Hunt, Henry Jackson (1819-1889) Mason, Emily Virginia (1815-1909) Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward) (1807-1870) Lee, Mary Randolph Custis (1808-1873) Cooper, Samuel (1798-1876) McClellan, George B. (1826-1885) |
| Place written | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Women in American History; The Mexican War |
| 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). Hunt had served as Chief of Artillery for the Army of the Potomac. After the Civil War, he occupied various military posts. In the early 1870s, Hunt served at Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |