LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 June Civil War Grand Format Auction #663  / 

72082

Major General Philip Sheridan's Gauntlets, Given

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:11,250.00 USD Estimated At:45,000.00 - 65,000.00 USD
Major General Philip Sheridan's Gauntlets, Given
<B>Major General Philip Sheridan's Cavalry Gauntlets, Given to Captain Augustus C. Paul</B></I> Union Major General Philip Sheridan was one of the most famous cavalry generals in the United States Army during the Civil War. These gauntlets were used by him during the Civil War and given to an acquaintance, Captain Augustus C. Paul.<BR><BR>After graduating from West Point in 1853, Sheridan served in Texas and in the Pacific Northwest where he engaged in Indian fighting. It was in Oregon that he was slightly wounded and began to hone his negotiating skills with Indians that he would use after the Civil War.<BR><BR> A career army officer by the time of Fort Sumter, Sheridan was promoted to captain at the outbreak of the war. After a stint of duty in Missouri, Sheridan made it into battle at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. In May of 1862 he received an appointment as colonel of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry and was promoted to Brigadier General only months later. He would lead his cavaliers at Perryville, Stones River and Chickamauga. But it was during the Overland Campaign in May of 1864 that General Sheridan would have encountered the young Captain Augustus C. Paul, then serving as Assistant Adjutant General of US Volunteers to General A. A. Humphreys of the Union's 2nd Corps.<BR><BR>The son and grandson of career army officers, Augustus Chouteau Paul was appointed as Assistant Adjutant General to General Humphreys after his service at the Battle of Stones River and after being captured at the Battle of Spottsylvania. A handwritten, signed letter dated October 25, 1892 from Augustus C. Paul which accompanies these gauntlets states that Paul was given them by General Sheridan during Paul's service with 2nd Corps under General Humphreys. Further, in the letter Paul mentions that he took the stars off the gauntlets when he served as an officer of the 3rd US Cavalry. Paul's reference in the letter is to his post-Civil War service in the New Mexico and Arizona Territories when he reenlisted in the US Army as a 2nd lieutenant with 3rd US Cavalry after the war.<BR><BR>The gauntlets, made by Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, are of fine buff leather and measure approximately 16” from the tip on the middle finger to the longest point of the gauntlet that would reach to the upper forearm. There is elaborate gold-threaded embroidery in a foliate pattern at the upper corner of the gauntlet with the 'US' initials being especially heavily threaded. The remaining impressions are still visible where the single stars on each gauntlet have been removed as mentioned by Captain Paul in his accompanying letter written by him in 1892 while he served as Postmaster of the National Soldiers' Home in Virginia. The gauntlets are in otherwise very good condition.<BR><BR> Augustus C. Paul's service later in Wyoming and Western Nebraska from 1872 to 1876 culminated in his brush with history. The 3rd US Cavalry was part of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition commanded by Brigadier General George Crook. Leaving for the Bighorn Mountains with General Crook, Paul was to meet with two other columns, including the one led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Due to not only the massacre at Little Big Horn, but also because of their own near-disastrous fight with a large contingent of Sioux and Cheyenne at the Rosebud River, neither Paul nor Crook were ever able to join their forces with Custer.<BR><BR>These cavalry gauntlets, presented to fellow US Army officer Augustus C. Paul by General Philip Sheridan, were obviously treasured (and used) by Captain Paul as he made his way through the Civil War and into the Indian Wars and are a remarkable showpiece.<BR><BR> <B>Provenance:</B></I> <I>Gen. Philip Sheridan, Augustus Paul, The Tharpe Collection of American Military History</B></I><BR> <BR><B>Exhibited:</B></I> <I>The Liberty Heritage Society Museum</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Requires 3rd Party Shipping (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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