Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/350

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HUNTER
HUNTER

Pierce Butler, who had resigned, and served from February, 1797, till 1798, when he resigned.


HUNTER, John Dunn, adventurer, b. in a set- tlement west of the Mississippi about 1798 ; d. near Nacogdoches, Tex., early in 1827. According to his own narrative he was made captive by the Kickapoo Indians when an infant, and adopted into the family of one of the principal warriors. He afterward fell into the hands of a party of Kansas Indians, and was finally received among the Osages, where he was adopted for the third time. He was dangerously wounded in an engagement with the Cams, and before he had recovered was taken by the Osages across the Rocky mountains into the valley of Columbia river, and up to its mouth. After travel- ling southward toward the affluents of the Rio del Norte, and receiving from the Indians the name of the " Hunter," on account of his skill in the chase, he went with them toward the affluents of the Mississippi, meeting traders often by the way. The treacherous conduct of his companions toward the latter disgusted Hunter, and, after several ex- citing incidents and some internal struggles, he de- termined in 1817 to cast his lot with the whites. He managed to reach New Orleans, and, after real- izing a considerable sum by the sale of the furs that he possessed, he attended the schools of the city and learned the English language. Here he as- sumed the name that the Indians had given him. He was in Kentucky in 1821, pursuing his studies, and afterward, by the advice and help of friends, visited Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and other cities. He was pressed on all sides to pub- lish a narrative of his life among the Indians, and was assisted by Edward Clarke in the composition of his work, which appeared in 1823, and was re- ceived with much favor. Its success, however, was checked soon afterward. Duponceau, a French- man living in Philadelphia, who had long been en- gaged in researches on the idioms of the American Indians, met Hunter, and, after several conversa- tions with him, became convinced that he was an " impostor, and entirely ignorant of the language he claimed to know." He told Hunter so, and published his opinion. The statement of Dupon- ceau first met with little belief, but it was sup- ported by some of those who had formed part of the expedition to the Rocky mountains of Maj. Stephen H. Long in 1819-20. Hunter now em- barked for England, where he met with a flattering reception. The Royal society believed him a man that had been specially raised by Providence to carry the benefits of intellectual training to the Indians, and he pointed out the means of arriving at this end in the preface to the English reprint of his book. After receiving many valuable gifts, and being presented to the royal family, he returned to the United States, where he met with a renewal of the charges against him. In the " North Ameri- can Review " he was denounced in an article by Gen. Cass as " one of the boldest impostors that had appeared in the literary world since the days of Psalmanazar," and at the same time the author of the article accumulated a mass of irresistible proofs against him. Hunter made no attempt to refute these charges. He went to Mexico and en- deavored to obtain from the government of that country the grant of an immense territory on which he proposed to settle a colony of Indians. He assured the Mexicans that he would thus form a rampart on their frontiers that would be capable of resisting every encroachment on the part of the United States. His proposal was rejected, and he went to Texas, where he became one of the chiefs of the party that was trying to secure its independ- ence. After an unsuccessful attempt at a revolu- tion, he was killed by an Indian whom he had per- suaded to join in ir. Hunter's work is entitled "Manners and Customs of Several Indian Tribes located West of the Mississippi" (Philadelphia, 1823 ; reprinted in London the same year, under the title " Memoirs of a Captivity among the In- dians of North America, from Childhood to the Age of Nineteen "). It was translated into German by Wilhelm A. Lindau (Dresden, 1824), and also into Swedish (Mariefred, 1826).


HUNTER, John Howard, Canadian educator, b. in Bandon, Ireland, 22 Dec, 1839. He was edu- cated at Queen's university, Ireland, and at Toronto university, Canada, where he received the degree of M. A. in 1861. He was appointed rector of St. Catherine's collegiate institute in 1871, principal of the Ontario institute for the blind in 1874, and inspector of insurance for Ontario in 1881. He has written much for magazines, and is the author of "Upper Canada College Question" (Toronto, 1868), and " Manual of Insurance Law " (1881).


HUNTER, John Ward, congressman, b. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 15 Oct., 1807. He was educated in the common schools of Brooklyn, engaged in business, and in 1836-'65 was assistant auditor in the custom-house. In 1866 he was elected to congress as a Republican, to fill out the unexpired term of James Humphrey, deceased, serving from December, 1866, till March, 1867. He was mayor of Brooklyn in 1875-'6, but since that time has occupied no official position.


HUNTER, Joseph, British author, b. in Shef- field, England, 6 Feb., 1783 : d. in London, 9 May, 1861. He was pastor of a Presbyterian church at Bath from 1809 till 1833, and from the latter date till his death was assistant keeper of the public records in London. His " Founders of New Plym- outh," published first as a pamphlet, and after- ward in the " Massachusetts Historical Collections," was subsequently enlarged (London, 1854). He was also instrumental in procuring for the Histori- cal society a transcript of the " History of the Plymouth Plantation, by Gov. Bradford, from the original in the Fulham library. He was the author of other works, among them illustrations of the texts of Shakespeare's plavs.


HUNTER, Sir Martin, British soldier, b. in 1757 ; d. at Ontario Hill, Canada, 9 Dec, 1846. He entered the army, 30 Aug., 1771, became lieutenant, 18 June, 1775, the day following the battle of Bunker Hill; captain, 21 Nov., 1777; colonel in 1800; and general, 27 May, 1825. He was at Bunker Hill, Brooklyn, and Brandywine, in the storming of Fort Washington, and in the night attack on Gen. Wayne's brigade, in which he was wounded. He served afterward in the East Indies, and in 1797 commanded a brigade at the capture of Trinidad and the siege of Porto Rico. Subse- quently he was commander-in-chief at Halifax, and governor of New Brunswick


HUNTER, Morton Craig, soldier, b. in Versailles, Ind., 5 Feb., 1825. He was graduated at the law department of Indiana university in 1849, and elected a member of the legislature of that state in 1858. He was colonel of the 82d regiment of Indiana infantry in the civil war, until the fall of Atlanta. He then commanded a brigade in the 14th army corps till the end of the war, taking part in Sherman's march to the sea. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865, and was afterward elected to congress from Indiana as a Republican, serving from 4 March, 1867, till 3 March, 1869, and again from 1 Dec, 1873, till 4 March, 1879.