Hunter, David

Life Span
to
    Full name
    David Hunter
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Slave State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    Family
    Richard Stockton (maternal grandfather), Andrew Hunter (father), Mary Stockton (mother), Maria Indiana Kinzie (wife)
    Education
    West Point (US Military Academy)
    Occupation
    Military
    Businessman
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Military
    US military (Pre-Civil War)
    Union Army

    David Hunter (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    In 1860 Hunter furthered his career through deft manipulation of the newly elected president Abraham Lincoln. From Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Hunter began a correspondence with Lincoln. His ploy resulted in an invitation from the president to travel aboard the inaugural train from Illinois to the nation's capital. Soon after the Civil War began, Hunter wrangled command of a division even though he was only a colonel in the regular army, having been promoted in May 1861. He participated in the 1861 First Bull Run (First Manassas) campaign, but he was wounded early in the battle…Lincoln elevated Hunter to major general of volunteers. Later that year Lincoln persuaded him to serve under General John C. Frémont in a perilous situation in the Mississippi River basin…Lincoln relieved Frémont of command in part because of Frémont's attempt to liberate the slaves within his command's span of control. When Hunter was dispatched in March 1862 to the Department of the South, a position of relative obscurity on Union-held islands along the South Carolina coast, he repeated Frémont's political gaffe. On 9 May 1862 he decreed that all slaves inside his lines were "free for ever." Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton reacted immediately, revoking Hunter's order. Forced to make his policy absolutely clear, Lincoln stated, "No commanding general shall do such a thing, upon my responsibility, without consulting me." Despite Hunter's faulty assumption of authority, Lincoln still regarded the general as a friend.
    Rod Paschall, "Hunter, David," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00369.html.
    Date Event
    - The first pitched battle of the war between armies results in a Union disaster at Bull Run
    General Frémont consolidates his forces and moves against the Confederate invasion of Missouri with five divisions
    President Lincoln forms two new Army Departments in the South
    Major General David Hunter takes command of the Union Army's new Department of the South
    - In coastal Georgia, Fort Pulaski endures a thirty hour Union bombardment before surrendering
    Without authority, Union General David Hunter declares all slaves in three states "forever free"
    President Lincoln declares void Union General David Hunter's South Carolina declaration of emancipation
    General Hunter takes his leave after an eventful year as head of the Department of the South
    Abraham Lincoln returns to Springfield, Illinois where his remains lay in state in the State House
    In Washington, the officers of the military court for John Wilkes Booth's accused fellow plotters are named
    In Washington, membership of the military court for John Wilkes Booth's accused fellow plotters is adjusted
    In Washington, the accused Lincoln Assassination plotters all plead not guilty before their military court
    In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the taking of evidence in the Lincoln conspiracy trial begins
    - In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the taking of evidence in the Lincoln conspiracy trial continues
    In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the taking of evidence in the Lincoln conspiracy trial concludes
    - In Washington's Old Penitentiary, final arguments are being made in the Lincoln conspiracy trial
    In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the Commission in the Lincoln conspiracy trial begin their deliberations
    In Washington, President Andrew Johnson approves the sentences passed down to the Lincoln conspirators
    In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the Lincoln conspirators are told their fate in their cells
    More than a hundred general officers of volunteers are mustered out of the Union Army
    How to Cite This Page: "Hunter, David," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/5946.