This set is engraved with a presentation to Major General P. H. Sheridan by his Personal Friends, Chicago, June 3rd, 1875.

This
important service is of neoclassical Egyptian style, and is very rare
and beautiful. Of historical importance is the presentation to General
Philip Henry Sheridan, who began his military career as a successful
U.S. Cavalry officer who helped the Union army defeat the Confederate
troops in the American Civil War and finished as Commander in Chief at
the end of his career having accepted the surrender by General Lee of
the Confederate Army.

 Born in
1831 in ALbandy, New York, and a graduate of West Point in 1853, he was
promoted to Captain at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1862 serving
mostly frontier posts. As a newly appointed Colonel of the 2nd Michigan
Cavalry, he skillfully led his troops to defeat a Confederate force at
Booneville, Mississippi. His rank was then raised to Brigadier General
after leading the 11th Division (Army of Ohio) at Perryville, Kentucky
and withstanding repeated attacks during October of 1862. After the
Battle of Stone River (Murfreesboro, Tennessee), Sheridan became a Major
General. Impressed by Sheridan’s military leadership, General Ulysses
S. Grant called Sheridan to the East to head the cavalry of the Army of
the Potomac. In the spring of 1984, Sheridan led a raid towards
Richmond, Virginia that destroyed Confederate supplies and killed the
South’s cavalry leader, General J.E.B. (Jeb) Stuart.

By the fall
of 1864, Sheridan had forced Confederates from the Shenandoah Valley,
destroyed their defense of the Southern capitals, and emerged victorious
through three more battles. By late fall, Sheridan was promoted to
Major General and received recognition from Congress for successfully
completeing his mission in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan successfully
cut the Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s rail communications and
forced Lee to retreat westward from the Richmond-Petersburg lines.
Sheridan’s continuous pressure against Lee’s southern flank helped cut
Lee’s line of retreat and forced his immediate surrender, ending the
Civil War.

By 1883, he
had risen to the position of General and Chief of the Army. The pinnacle
of his military career occured in 1888, when he received the rank of a
full general from the United States Congress. Philip Henry Sheridan died
on August 15, 1888 at Nonquitt, Massachusetts.

Description taken from Sotheby’s Fine Americana, January 23-25, 1992