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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC02382.083 |
| From Archive Folder | Collection of Henry Jackson Hunt |
| Title | John F. Lee to Henry Jackson Hunt regarding Sumner's civil rights bill |
| Date | 22 January [1870] |
| Author | Lee, John F. (1813-1884) |
| Recipient | Hunt, Henry Jackson |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Lee requests Hunt's presence, but notes "The stage [inserted: U. S. mail coach] is slow, & regulated on the plan of Sumner's civil rights bill. (crowded with niggers) You might be wanting in some gallant attentions to a colored lady, & be legislated out of service for it." Suggests Hunt follow the editing principles of Benjamin Franklin (as he explained to Thomas Jefferson), in regulations Hunt is creating. At the bottom of the page, Lee implores "Dont fail me." Year inferred from content. John Fitzgerald Lee (1813-1884) of Virginia was the son of Francis "Lightfoot" Lee II, the grandson of Declaration signer Richard Henry Lee, brother of Rear Admiral Samuel Phillip Lee, and a third cousin of General Robert E. Lee. After graduating from West Point in 1834, Lee fought in the Seminole Wars, served in the ordnance corps (commanding the Washington arsenal in 1847-1848), and as judge advocate of the Army (1849-1862), with the rank of major. When the Civil War began, he in effect remained neutral, choosing not to serve in a war against his Virginia friends and family, and was legislated out of office; replaced by Joseph Holt. He then retired to his estate in Maryland. |
| Subjects | African American History Union General Post Office Civil Rights Congress Law Reconstruction Transportation Women's History President Literature and Language Arts |
| People | Hunt, Henry Jackson (1819-1889) Lee, John F. (1813-1884) Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790) Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826) Sumner, Charles (1811-1874) |
| Place written | Upper Marlboro, Maryland |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Women in American History; African Americans |
| 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. Lee was an ordnance officer in the war. Charles Sumner introduced a civil rights bill before the senate in early 1872. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |