David Hunter (July 21, 1802 – February 2, 1886) was a Union general in the American Civil War. He achieved fame by his unauthorized 1862 order (immediately rescinded) emancipating slaves in three Southern states and as the president of the military commission trying the conspirators involved with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
Hunter was born in Troy, New York, or Princeton, New Jersey. He was the cousin of writer-illustrator Dav...
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David Hunter (July 21, 1802 – February 2, 1886) was a Union general in the American Civil War. He achieved fame by his unauthorized 1862 order (immediately rescinded) emancipating slaves in three Southern states and as the president of the military commission trying the conspirators involved with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
Hunter was born in Troy, New York, or Princeton, New Jersey. He was the cousin of writer-illustrator David Hunter Strother (who would also serve as a Union Army general) and his maternal grandfather was Richard Stockton, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He graduated from the United States Military Academy, in 1822, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 5th U.S. Infantry Regiment. Records of his military service prior to the Civil War contain significant gaps. From 1828 to 1831, he was stationed on the northwest frontier, at Fort Dearborn (Chicago, Illinois), where he met and married Maria Kinzie, the daughter...
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