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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC02382.056 |
| From Archive Folder | Collection of Henry Jackson Hunt |
| Title | John Gibbon to Henry Jackson Hunt regarding the health of General Hancock |
| Date | 12 March 1885 |
| Author | Gibbon, John (1827-1896) |
| Recipient | Hunt, Henry Jackson |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Writes that General Winfield Scott Hancock is on the brink of death due to pneumonia (Hancock did not die until February 1886). Relates that Hancock recently dined with a Lieutenant Kingman, and fell sick the next morning. Writes "I fear Hancock will leave his family in very poor condition." Mentions several doctors working with Hancock, and a Mrs. Taylor, who has remained by Hancock's side. Of Hancock, declares "... there are few more high toned honorable gentlemen in the army, few possessed of more good hard common sense & very few more honest & faithful in the performance of duty... " Expresses joy that Hunt's bill (possibly regarding veterans' retirement) has passed. |
| Subjects | Military History Union General Health and Medical Disease Finance Congress Law Soldier's Pay |
| People | Gibbon, John (1827-1896) Hunt, Henry Jackson (1819-1889) Hancock, Winfield Scott (1824-1886) |
| Place written | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Health & Medicine; Government & Politics |
| 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 was governor of the Soldiers' Home in Washington, D.C. from 1883 until his death. Gibbon, a Civil War general, continued in the military after the war, serving in the Montana Territory and Pacific Northwest. He commanded Fort Laramie in 1883, and the Department of the Platte in 1884. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |