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Note: This article is about Gen. Henry Jackson Hunt, U.S. Army. You may also be looking for British orator Henry Hunt.
Portrait of Henry Jackson Hunt during the Civil War Henry Jackson Hunt (September 14, 1819–February 11, 1889) was commander of Artillery in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. Considered by his contemporaries the greatest artillery tactician and strategist of the war, he rewrote the manual on the organization and use of artillery in early modern armies.
Hunt was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Samuel Wellington Hunt, an infantry officer. He was named after his uncle, Henry Jackson Hunt who was a mayor of Detroit.
He graduated at the US military academy in 1839. He served in the Mexican War under Scott, and was breveted for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco and at Chapultepec. He became captain in 1852 and major in 1861. His professional attainments were great, and in 1856 he was a member of a board entrusted with the revision of light artillery drill and tactics. He took part in the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, and soon afterwards became chief of artillery in the Washington defences.
As a colonel on the staff of General McClellan he organized and trained the artillery reserve of the Army of the Potomac. Throughout the Civil War he contributed more than any officer to the effective employment of the artillery arm. With the artillery reserve he rendered the greatest assistance at the battle of Malvern Hill, and soon afterwards he became chief of artillery in the Army of the Potomac.
On the day after the battle of South Mountain he was made brigadier-general of volunteers. At the Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, he rendered further good service, and at Gettysburg his handling of the artillery was conspicuous in the repulse of Pickett's Charge, and he was rewarded with the brevet of colonel. He served in Virginia to the end of the war, attaining the brevet ranks of major-general of volunteers and brigadier-general of regulars.
When the US army was reorganized in 1866 he became colonel of the 5th artillery and president of the permanent Artillery Board. He held various commands until 1883, when heretired to become governor of the Soldiers Home, Washington, DC.
He was the author of Instructions for Field Artillery (1860), and of papers on Gettysburg in the Battles and Leaders series. His brother, Lewis Cass Hunt (1824-1886), served throughout the Civil War in the infantry arm, becoming brigadier-general of volunteers in 1862, and brevet brigadier-general USA in 1865.
External links
- Biography of the younger Hunt (http://www.geocities.com/43rdpa/glossary/hunthj.html)
- Biographical notes on the elder Hunt (http://www.historydetroit.com/people/henry_j_hunt.asp)
- Notes about the Hunt family of Detroit (http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=micounty;cc=micounty;sid=a05ee238a5980eaa5142b4aff52e8eb9;q1=Henry%20Jackson;rgn=full%20text;idno=BAD1447.0002.001;view=image;seq=00000596) from The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922; Clarence M. Burton, editor-in-chief, William Stocking, associate editor, Gordon K. Miller, associated editor., Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932. pp. 1443-1445
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
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