Andrew H. Hunter | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theVirginia House of Delegates from theJefferson County district | |
| In office December 7, 1846-December 3, 1848 Serving with William B. Thompson | |
| Preceded by | William F. Turner |
| Succeeded by | Joseph F. McMurran |
| In office December 2, 1861-September 6, 1863 Serving with Thomas C. Green | |
| Preceded by | John T. Gibson |
| Succeeded by | Jacob S. Melvin |
| Member of theVirginia Senate from theBerkeley andJefferson Counties district | |
| In office 1864-March 15, 1865 | |
| Preceded by | Edwin L. Moore |
| Succeeded by | n/a |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 22, 1804 Martinsburg, West Virginia, (then Virginia) U.S. |
| Died | November 21, 1888(1888-11-21) (aged 84) |
| Alma mater | Hampden-Sydney College |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Andrew H. Hunter (March 22, 1804 – November 21, 1888) was a Virginia lawyer, slaveholder, and politician who served in both houses of theVirginia General Assembly, including the Confederate House of Delegates. He was theCommonwealth's attorney forJefferson County, Virginia, who prosecutedJohn Brown for the raid onHarpers Ferry.
Hunter was born in 1804 to Col. David Hunter (1761–1829) and his wife, the former Elizabeth Pendleton (1774–1825) inMartinsburg, then inBerkeley County, Virginia, where his father long served as the county clerk. Although he had three brothers, one the Presbyterian clergyman Rev. Moses Hunter of New York,[1] the family had resources sufficient to pay for his education at Washington Academy, nowWashington and Jefferson College, further along theNational Road inWashington, Pennsylvania, then atHampden-Sydney College, from which he graduatedsumma cum laude in 1822.[2] He married Elizabeth Ellen Stubblefield (d. 1873) and they had two sons, Henry Clay Hunter (1830-1886)—apparently named for the Kentucky politicianHenry Clay—and Andrew Hunter Jr., and seven daughters.
Although he was not a pro-slavery spokesman—that honor belonged to his near-neighbor and author of the newFugitive Slave Law, SenatorJames M. Mason—Hunter, like every Virginia politician, was firmly pro-slavery in any public context.
At the time of the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Hunter owned five slaves: a 36 year old black male, black females aged 35 and 40, and a 6 year old mulatto boy.[3][full citation needed]
A Northern newspaper described Hunter as a "furious advocate of slavery".[4] He declared that the slave trade was "the source of great benefit, not only to the whites in those States, but particularly to the slaves themselves", and declared himself opposed to "sentimental legislation" that suppressed the foreign slave trade.[5] Nevertheless, another newspaper described him as "a warm friend of [abolitionist]Horace Greeley, strange as that may seem."[6]
Hunter was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1828,[7] and practiced law in what became theEastern Panhandle of West Virginia in his lifetime. His elder brother became a prominent lawyer in Martinsburg, the Berkeley County seat, and Hunter began his practice in Harpers Ferry, then settled in Charles Town (Jefferson County's seat). Beginning in 1840, Andrew Hunter became one of the local attorneys for theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), and for many years assisted it, first in acquiring the right of way to lay tracks in the county for the connection at Harper's Ferry, although beginning in 1844 Hunter was also a director of theWinchester & Potomac Railroad Company and represented them in their attempts to be taken over by the B&O as it tried to lay track toWheeling (then in western Virginia).[8] Hunter was a presidential elector for the Whig party in 1840, but declined nomination for Congress.[2]
Jefferson County voters elected Hunter as one of their (part-time) representatives in theVirginia House of Delegates in 1846, and he also worked for the B&O while in Richmond, but neither he nor his colleagueWilliam B. Thompson won re-election.[9][10]
In 1850, Jefferson County voters and those from neighboring Berkeley and Clarke Counties elected Hunter to theVirginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, along withCharles J. Faulkner (another local B&O attorney),William Lucas, and Dennis Murphy.[11] Hunter and Lucas were "states' rights" men, although in the South Carolina nullification crisis of 1833, Hunter and Thompson had spoken strongly condemning South Carolina's course.[12]
Hunter was Virginia governorHenry A. Wise's personal attorney.[13]: 1688
It has been said that it was theJohn Brown affair that made Hunter a national figure,[7] but even before John Brown's raid, he was mentioned as a possible presidential candidate:
There is a quiet feeling in the delegation [to the1860 Democratic National Convention], in favor of Mr Hunter. It is neither deep, enthusiastic, nor even well defined, or definitely fixed. It springs not so much from friendship for him, as from a latent conviction that the candidate upon whom the Convention will ultimately unite will be some considerate, moderate man like Hunter, to the exclusion of egoists and radicals like Wise, who expose themselves to the censure of the many by imprudent letters, or, like Douglas, who repel the necessary few by denunciatory speeches.[14]
Charles Town, where Hunter lived, was only seven miles (11 km) fromHarpers Ferry, whereJohn Brown's 1859 raid produced a huge uproar, drawing national attention. By decision of Virginia GovernorHenry A. Wise, whose personal attorney Hunter was, Hunter was given the politically explosive task of prosecutingabolitionistJohn Brown and the others of his party who were captured; the county prosecutor, Charles B. Harding, by general agreement was not capable of handling such a high-profile case, and he was happy to be "assisted". Thus, Hunter, who signed himself "Assistant Prosecuting Attorney",[16] quickly drafted the indictment and prosecuted John Brown and his associates for murder, inciting a negro insurrection, and treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia. "Mr. Hunter had against him some of the finest legal talent of the North. He conducted the trial with great ability and made a national reputation as a lawyer."[17] The defendants were convicted of all charges, except that since according to theDred Scott decision Blacks were not citizens, the two Black defendants,Shields Green andJohn Anthony Copeland, could not commit treason, so that charge was dropped for those two defendants. All were sentenced to death and all were executed by hanging.[18]
Thecircuit judge and the out-of-town attorneys having left, it was Hunter who was in charge of everything local relating to Brown during his final month. He was "the first man in Charlestown".[19] Only he could have written the "Proclamation" of November 28, announcing the arrest of those in Jefferson County who could not explain their business there.[16] It was Hunter who opened and read every letter addressed to Brown, retaining 70 to 80 that "he could not get, never would get, as I thought they were improper"; they were shipped to Richmond along with the other documents. Hunter told the jailor Captain Avis to treat Brown well.[20][6][21]
Hunter was already "the recognized leader of the bar of this [Jefferson] county".[7] The John Brown trials gave him a national reputation.[7] He was at that time "one of the leading attorneys of the United States".[22]
In 1881 Hunter went toStorer College to hearFrederick Douglass talk on Brown, and congratulated him when he was done.[23][24] A visitor in 1883 wrote that "it seems to renew the youth of this venerable octogenarian to talk of John Brown". According to Hunter, Brown "was the bravest man I ever saw."[25]
Hunter was, during the war, "the trusted friend and advisor of GeneralRobert E. Lee".[7][2]
After Virginia voted for secession and theAmerican Civil War began, Hunter and fellow lawyerThomas C. Green (Charles Town's mayor, a Confederate tax assessor and later a justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court)[26] represented Jefferson County under the Confederate regime in the Virginia House of Delegates during the sessions of 1861/62 and 1862/63, but neither won re-election in 1863.[27] Another local B&O attorney,Thomas Jefferson McKaig (the railroad's counsel in Cumberland, Maryland, for nearly four decades and who served in both houses of the Maryland legislature), would also side with the Confederacy.[28] After the resignation of banker and Confederate officerEdwin L. Moore (of the2nd Virginia Infantry, in which his lawyer son Henry Clay Hunter fought as a private before receiving a lieutenant's commission in July 1861),[29] Hunter then became State Senator for his district, by then occupied by Federal troops (and the U.S. Congress having recognized West Virginia as the 35th State).[30][10] His youngest brother, Rev. Moses Hoge Hunter (1814-1899), served as chaplain of the 3rd Pennsylvania cavalry during that war, and would later edit the memoirs of their cousin, Union GeneralDavid Hunter (particularly despised by Confederate sympathizers in western Virginia because of his raids, including that which destroyed the pro-ConfederateVirginia Military Institute). General Hunter in July 1864 ordered subordinates to burn Andrew Hunter's home, and Hunter was then imprisoned for a month without explanation nor charges.[31]
After the war, Hunter resumed his legal practice. As the county's leading attorney, he again often opposedCharles J. Faulkner in court. Beginning in 1865, when West Virginia legislators moved the Jefferson County seat from Charles Town toShepherdstown. Hunter fought to move the county seat back, and successfully defended a later law moving the county seat back to Charles Town (from Shepherdstown); Faulkner represented the losing Shepherdstown side.[32] Hunter was later one of the losing attorneys representing Virginia inVirginia v. West Virginia, Virginia's suit to take back the counties ofJefferson andBerkeley, which the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1871 (Faulkner was on the winning side).[33]
Andrew Hunter died at his home inCharles Town,Jefferson County, West Virginia, on November 21, 1888. He was in good health until shortly before his death (attributed in an obituary to "old age").[34] His son Andrew Hunter, Jr., died "in Confederate service"; his other son, Henry Clay Hunter, an attorney, died a year before his father.[7] His nephewRobert W. Hunter, also a Confederate officer and delegate, would survive the war and become the Secretary of Virginia Military Records.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)