Henry Jackson Hunt | |
---|---|
Gen. H.J. Hunt
|
|
Born |
Detroit, Michigan |
September 14, 1819
Died | February 11, 1889 Washington, D.C. |
(aged 69)
Place of burial | Soldiers' Home National Cemetery |
Allegiance |
United States of America Union |
Service/branch |
United States Army Union Army |
Years of service | 1839–1883 |
Rank |
Brigadier General Brevet Major General |
Commands held | Chief of Artillery, Army of the Potomac 5th U.S. Artillery |
Battles/wars |
Henry Jackson Hunt (September 14, 1819 – February 11, 1889) was Chief 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 was a master of the science of gunnery and rewrote the manual on the organization and use of artillery in early modern armies. His courage and tactics affected the outcome of some of the most significant battles in the war, including Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and most notably at Gettysburg.
Hunt was born in the frontier outpost of Detroit, Michigan, the son of Samuel Wellington Hunt, an Army infantry officer who entered West Point in 1814 and died in 1829. He was named after his uncle, Henry Jackson Hunt, who was the second mayor of Detroit. His grandfather was Colonel Thomas Hunt (soldier) who served with distinction in the Continental Army throughout the American Revolution and served in the United States Army after the war and rose to the rank of colonel before his death in 1808.
As a child in 1827, he accompanied his father on the expedition to the future Kansas Territory that founded Fort Leavenworth. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1839 as a brevet second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Artillery. He served in the Mexican War under Winfield Scott, and was appointed a brevet captain for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco and to major at Chapultepec.