CIVIL WAR ERA GORHAM COIN SILVER FOUR-PIECE COFFEE AND TEA SERVICE PRESENTED TO MAJOR GENERAL HENRY JACKSON HUNT, early Aesthetic Movement service comprising a coffee pot, a teapot, a covered sugar, and a waste bowl, each with flared rim having foliate accents and beading to underside, sides featuring slightly raised ivy vine and berry design, resting on four claw feet with foliate knees, three pieces with one or two stylized handles having scrolled tops, the pots with bone centers, coffee pot engraved "H" to one side and the other side with "Presented / to / Maj. Gen. Hunt, / by the Artillery Officers / as a token of their esteem. / August 15, 1865." Each piece with the three Gorham pseudo hallmarks above "250" pattern number, teapot with retailer's mark for Geo. W. Webb & Co. of Baltimore, MD. Total weight including non-silver components: 85.616 ozt. Gorham & Co. / Gorham Mfg. Co., Providence, RI. Circa 1865. Coffee pot 11" HOA.
Provenance: From a private West Townsend, MA collection.
Worthington Galleries, Gallatin, TN, 10/21/2017, lot 14.
Catalogue Note: Henry Jackson Hunt (1819-1889) was born in Detroit, Michigan, son of Samuel Wellington Hunt (1799-1829), who was a career army infantry officer, and grandson of Colonel Thomas Hunt (1754-1808), who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and in the U.S. Army until his death. Henry attended the United States Military Academy (West Point), graduating 19th out of 31 in the class of 1839. He went on to serve in the Mexican War under Winfield Scott, being appointed to a brevet Captain for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco and to Major at Chapultepec. On October 5, 1856, Brevet Major Hunt commanded Company M, 2nd U.S. Artillery from Fort Leavenworth to protect the polls during the territorial legislature elections in Eaton, Kansas, serving with the same unit during the Utah War in 1857. His permanent promotions in the regular army were to Captain in 1852 and Major in 1861.
Prior to the Civil War, Hunt was a member of a three-man board to revise field artillery drills and tactics for the army. Published by the War Department in 1861, "The Instruction for Field Artillery" manual was written by him along with William H. French and William F. Barry, which became the bible for Northern artillerist during the war.
At the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, Hunt and his artillery covered the retreat of the Union Army, turning back a Confederate assault on the left flank. He became chief of artillery in the Department of Northeast Virginia shortly after, and he was promoted to Colonel under Major General George B. McClellan, being in charge of the artillery reserve for the Army of the Potomac. After the Battle of South Mountain, Hunt was promoted to Brigadier General of volunteers and assigned as Chief of Artillery for the Army of the Potomac during the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862. His artillery emplacements during the Battle of Fredericksburg eliminated any possibility of counterattacks by General Robert E. Lee across the Rappahannock River.
In 1863, Major General Joseph Hooker lessened Hunt's authority, which was later restored by Major General George G. Meade at Gettysburg. The handling and placement of artillery by Hunt was successful in repelling Pickett's Charge, deceiving the Confederates that lead to massive casualties. Hunt continued to serve in Virginia until the end of the war, he attained brevet ranks of Major General of Volunteers and Brigadier General in the regular army. He managed the artillery during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864 and 1865.
After the war and the U.S. Army was reorganized, Hunt became Colonel of the 5th U.S. Artillery and president of the permanent Artillery Board, holding various commands until his retirement in 1883. He served as governor of the Soldiers' Home in Washington, DC, where he lived until his death in 1889 and is buried at the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery.

Good to very good visual condition with wear, surface scratches, and other imperfections including dents, bending, nicks, worn spots to decoration and/or one or a few repairs, pots with some cracks to bone handles; coffee pot with handle having losses to beaded extensions and repair to foliate wreath terminal, possible repairs at hinge of lid and to spout, side near spout having a short split; teapot with lid currently detached having repair at hinge.