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 Albany, 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 completing 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.