HILL, BENJAMIN H. 



HURLBUT, STEPHEN A. 379 



of the Whig party in Georgia, and as one of 

 the most earnest champions of the Union cause, 

 opposed to slavery agitation and secession. 

 When his State seceded, in 1861, he acquiesced 

 in her action, and from that time to the close 

 of the war he was prominent and active in his 

 support of the Confederate Government, and 

 in opposition to reunion. From 1865 to 1870 

 he took every proper occasion to expose the 

 injustice and impolicy of the " reconstruction 

 measures," publishing his famous " Notes on 

 the Situation." For two years, from 1870 to 

 1872, he withdrew from public life, advising 

 the people to " accept the situation," resistance 

 being no longer possible. In 1 872 he supported 

 Mr. Greeley for the presidency. In 1875 he 

 was elected to Congress as Representative of 

 the Ninth District. In 1876 he was re-elected, 

 and, while occupying a seat in the House of 

 Representatives, was elected United States 

 Senator, defeating Hon. Thomas Norwood and 

 ex-Governor James M. Smith. As an orator 

 and constitutional lawyer he had few equals 

 and no superior in either branch of the Federal 

 Legislature. His fame as a jurist and as an 

 advocate before a jury was fully equal to his 

 fame as an orator ; and some of his speeches 

 in important cases in the courts are often cited 

 by members of the bar as masterpieces of 

 power. While intensely Southern in his feel- 

 ings, and ever ready to enter the lists in de- 

 fense of Southern honor or Southern rights, 

 he was not sectional in his views. The Union 

 under the Constitution strictly construed, a 

 union of co-equal States enjoying all the rights 

 of self-government, were the bases of his po- 

 litical creed. His speech in the House in reply 

 to Mr. Elaine's attack on the South as respon- 

 sible for the alleged " atrocities at Anderson- 

 ville," and his speech in the Senate in denun- 

 ciation of Mr. Mahone's coalition with the 

 Republican party, are probably the most re- 

 markable forensic efforts of his congressional 

 career. In 1878-'79 he experienced some un- 

 easiness from what was thought to be a little 

 pimple on the left side of his tongue. For 

 upward of a year he paid little attention to it ; 

 but as the sore became more aggravated, he 

 sought medical advice and was treated at first 

 by a homoeopathic physician, who pronounced 

 the sore a " benign ulcer." After eight months 

 of this treatment, and finding the affection was 

 becoming rapidly worse, he consulted the fa- 

 mous Dr. Gross, of Philadelphia, who pro- 

 nounced the disease cancer of the tongue. He 

 was operated on with the knife three times, 

 between July 21, 1881, and March 20, 1882, and 

 after the last operation, by which the whole 

 gland was removed, in the hope, which proved 

 vain, that thereby the whole cancerous taint 

 could be eradicated, Dr. Gross declared the case 

 to be hopeless. The sufferings of the distin- 

 guished patient were at times excruciating, but 

 he bore them with the patience and fortitude 

 of a true Christian. He went to Eureka Springs, 

 whose waters are said to be marvelously cura- 



tive in cancerous affections, but they failed to 

 benefit him. He then determined to return to 

 Georgia, saying: " Whatever God may have in 

 the future, I am willing to bear without a mur- 

 mur. But, if I must die, I will go back to the 

 old State that gave me birth, and die on her 

 soil, and among my own people." From the 

 day of his return to Atlanta he gradually sank. 

 For a month before his death his power of 

 articulation was almost gone. He was obliged 

 to resort to a writing-pad to make known his 

 wishes. When his throat became so constrict- 

 ed that he could no longer swallow nourish- 

 ment of any kind, he realized that his end 

 was near, made his will, and prepared to bid 

 farewell to all earthly things. A few hours 

 before his death, when he was rapidly sinking, 

 and had not spoken a word for many days, or 

 written a word for many hours, his pastor, Rev. 

 Clement A. Evans, reports that " the light of 

 life came full into his eyes once more, and with 

 a slight effort he spoke out in clear, full, and 

 even triumphant accent, the deathless legend 

 of a soul conquering in Christ, and in full view 

 of heaven ' Almost home ! ' rl His death, on 

 the 19th of August, was felt as a personal be- 

 reavement in every part of the State. Never 

 was a public man more sincerely or universally 

 lamented. His funeral at Atlanta, on the 20th 

 of August, was attended by an immense con- 

 course of people by all the State officials, by 

 a large delegation from both Houses of Con- 

 gress, by the Chancellor and Faculty of the 

 University of Georgia, and by delegations from 

 the bar and from all the principal cities and 

 towns in the State. The houses along the route 

 to the cemetery were draped in mourning, the 

 flags were at half-mast, the business houses 

 closed, the bells of all the churches tolled at 

 intervals, and the silence in the thronged streets, 

 and the sorrowful countenances of the people, 

 showed how truly they loved and mourned the 

 illustrious dead. 



HUNGARY. (See AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.) 

 HURLBUT, Major-General STEPHEN A., 

 United States Minister to Peru, died on April 

 3d. He was born at Charleston, S. C., Novem- 

 ber 29, 1815, and was the son of a Unitarian 

 clergyman, from whom he received his educa- 

 tion. He studied law, and practiced his pro- 

 fession in his native city until the breaking out 

 of the Florida War, in which he served as 

 adjutant in a South Carolina regiment. He 

 removed to Belvidere, Boone County, 111., in 

 1845, and resumed the practice of the law. He 

 represented his district several times in the 

 Legislature, and was a member of the Illinois 

 Constitutional Convention in 1847. At the 

 commencement of the civil war he was ap- 

 pointed a brigadier-general, and was in com- 

 mand at various points in Missouri from May, 

 1861, to February, 1862, when he was appoint- 

 ed commandant of Fort Donelson. He was in 

 command of the Fourth Division when the 

 army moved up the Tennessee, and was the 

 first to land at Pittsburg Landing, which he held 



