Hunt Steps Up

Henry Jackson Hunt turned 43 years old on Sept. 14, 1862, and was promoted brigadier general of volunteers the next day. On today's date in 1862, the recently appointed artillery chief of the Army of the Potomac was preparing for the Battle of Antietam. His report pays tribute to another underappreciated Union general, Alfred Pleasonton.

Hunt had already played a key role in the defensive victory of Malvern Hill, and would do the same the next year at Gettysburg, where his horse was shot under him. That was the peak of his career, although Grant, unlike Hooker in 1863, appreciated Hunt's worth and kept him in place as artillery chief in the Overland campaign, and then in charge of siege operations at Petersburg.

Hunt's unbroken Army service continued after the war, winding up in charge of the Soldiers' Home in Washington, where he is buried.