684 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 16, 1886. At the age 

 of eighteen he was apprenticed to a coach- 

 maker, and in odd hours he read and studied 

 diligently. He was graduated at Middlebury 

 College, Vt., in 1840, and immediately after- 

 ward went South and engaged in teaching in 

 various parts of Kentucky arid in Huntsville, 

 Ala. While living in the latter place, he be- 

 gan a severe and systematic study of Shake- 

 speare's works, embodying the results of his 

 reading and his opinions in the form of lect- 

 ures, which he first delivered in Huntsville. 

 These were cordially received by the press and 

 public, and when, in 1844, he went to Boston 

 he met with warm congratulations from Ralph 

 Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, and George 

 S. Hilliard. His lectures were repeated in that 

 and other large cities, and their publication in 

 1848 placed him in the front rank of Shake- 

 spearean scholars. Subsequently he took or- 

 ders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, edit- 

 ed the " Churchman" for three years, and was 

 settled as a pastor at Litchfield, Conn., from 

 1858 till 1860. He brought out several edi- 

 tions of Shakespeare, edited the "Saturday 

 Evening Gazette," of Boston, for two years, 

 prepared several text-books, and became a 

 lecturer at the Boston University. 



Hunt, Ward, an American lawyer, born in 

 Utica, N. Y., June 14, 1810; died in Washing- 

 ton, D. 0., March 24, 1886. He was educated 

 at Hamilton and Union Colleges, being gradu- 

 ated at the latter in 1828, and studied law at 

 Litchfield, Conn., under Judge Gould. Subse- 

 quently he was Mayor of Utica, a member of 

 the New York Assembly, and a Judge of the 

 New York Court of Appeals from 1865 till 

 1873, when he was appointed a Justice of the 

 Supreme Court of the United States, succeed- 

 ing the late Justice Nelson. In the early part 

 of 1879 he was paralyzed on the right side and 

 incapacitated for service, and in 1882 Congress 

 authorized his retirement on a pension. Both 

 Union and Rutgers colleges conferred the de- 

 gree of LL. D. upon him. 



Hunter, David, an American soldier, born in 

 Washington, D. C., July 21, 1802 ; died there, 

 Feb. 2, 1886. He was graduated at the U. S. 

 Military Academy, and entered the army as a 

 second-lieutenant of infantry in July, 1822. 

 During the ensuing fourteen years he was em- 

 ployed on frontier duty, reaching the rank 

 of captain of dragoons in 1833, and resigning 

 from the army in 1836. Six years later here- 

 entered the army as paymaster, with the rank 

 of major, serving in that capacity until May 

 14, 1861, when he was appointed colonel of 

 the Sixth U. S. Cavalry, and, three days after- 

 ward, a brigadier-general of volunteers. He 

 commanded a division at the battle of Bull 

 Run, July 21, 1861, during which he was 

 wounded, and in the following month was pro- 

 moted to the rank of major-general of volun- 

 teers. On April 1, 1862, he was placed in 

 command of the army at Port Royal, S. C., and 

 in May he issued the famous order, " All per- 



sons heretofore held as slaves in South Caro- 

 lina, Georgia, and Florida, are declared free 

 forever." This order was almost immediately 

 annulled by President Lincoln, in a special 

 proclamation. In May, 1864, Gen. Hunter suc- 

 ceeded Gen. Sigel in command of the Depart- 

 ment of West Virginia ; defeated the Confed- 

 erate Gen. W. E. Jones, at Piedmont, on June 

 5 ; and attacked Lynchburg, without success, 

 June 18. On Aug. 21, 1862, the Confederate 

 government declared, that if captured, he 

 should be treated as an outlaw, and any of his 

 otficers concerned in arming negroes should be 

 executed as felons, if caught. In the same 

 year he was detailed as president of the Fitz- 

 John Porter court-martial, and in 1865 as 

 president of the military commission that tried 

 the conspirators engaged in the assassination 

 of President Lincoln. He was retired from 

 active service in July, 1865. 



Hunter, William, an American diplomatist, 

 born in Newport, R. L, Nov. 8, 1805 ; died in 

 Washington, D. C., July 22, 1886. After 

 spending three years in the U. S. Military 

 Academy, he resigned on account of impaired 

 health, and went to New Orleans, where he 

 studied law, and the French and Spanish lan- 

 guages, and was admitted to the bar. Remov- 

 ing to Washington, D. C., he was appointed 

 a clerk in the Department of State, by Secre- 

 tary Van Buren, May 23, 1829. In 1833 he 

 became chief of the bureau in charge of the 

 relations with Spanish America and Brazil; 

 in 1849, claims clerk ; in 1852, chief clerk of 

 the department ; in 1860, Assistant Secretary ad 

 interim ; and in 1866, Second Assistant Secre- 

 tary. He had served under twenty-three Sec- 

 retaries of State, being on three occasions act- 

 ing-Secretary, and under sixteen Presidents. 

 His correspondence with consuls, ministers of 

 the United States, and foreign diplomatists, 

 during this period, would fill hundreds of vol- 

 umes. He was known far and wide as a writ- 

 er of dispatches and diplomatic notes, as well 

 as the author of important state documents 

 that were promulgated over the signatures of 

 the President and his Secretary of State. 



Hiird, Nathaniel Ft, an American builder, born 

 in Bath, N. H., in 1791 ; died in Montcluir, N. 

 J., Dec. 16, 1886. In his early youth he was 

 an enthusiastic militiaman, a thorough drill- 

 master, and a rigid disciplinarian. He served 

 in the War of 1812 with distinction, on the 

 staff of Maj.-Gen. John Montgomery, and at- 

 tained the rank of major. At the close of the 

 war he removed to the newly discovered iron- 

 fields in Ohio, and, in conjunction with a broth- 

 er, planned and erected the La Grange Iron 

 furnace. Up to this time the only iron fur- 

 naces were those known as the cold-blast char- 

 coal-furnaces. In 1836, Mr. Firmstone went 

 to Ohio from England, taking with him the 

 plans of a hot-blast oven. As no one but him- 

 self understood the innovation, the Hurd broth- 

 ers were applied to by the La Grange managers 

 to undertake the erection of a furnace after 



