GEN. HUNTER. Major General David Hunter was born in Washington, District of Columbia, July 26, 1802. His father, who was a Chaplain in the army, was a native of Virginia, of the family of Hunters of Winchester. He graduated at West Point in 1822, the twenty-fifth in rank in a class numbering forty, and was appointed 2d Lieutenant in the Infantry, his commission dating from July 1, 1822. He took command of Fort Dearborn, Chicago, Illinois, December 14, 1830, which he retained until May 20, 1831. During this period he was married to Miss Maria I. Kinzie, daughter of John Kinzie, the first permanent inhabitant of the city of Chicago, who settled there in 1804, the year following the erection of Fort Dearborn. Having risen to a 1st Lieutenancy, he was, in 1832, made a Captain of Dragoons, and twice crossed the Plains to the Rocky Mountains, on one of which long, perilous and fatiguing journeys he was accompanied by Mrs. Hunter, who has been the almost constant companion of her husband in all of his campaign life. In 1836, he resigned and entered into the forwarding business at Chicago, forming a copartnership with his brother-in-law, John H. Kinzie. In 1842, he rejoined the army as a Paymaster, in which position, with the rank of Major, the present administration found him. He accompanied the President from Springfield, en route for Washington, as far as Buffalo, N. Y., where, owing to the extraordinary pressure of the crowd, he suffered a dislocation of the collar-bone. May 14, 1861, he was appointed Col. of the 6th Regiment U. S. Cavalry, and at the disastrous battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861, commanded the main column of McDowell's army, and was severely wounded in the neck. August 13, 1861, he was made Major General of Volunteers, and superseded Maj. Gen. Fremont in the Department of Missouri, Nov. 2d, 1861. In assuming command, Gen. Hunter repudiated Fremont's agreement with Price in Missouri, and in his report to headquarters, assigned as his reasons that it would render the enforcement of martial law impossible, give absolute liberty to the propagandists of treason, and practically annul the confiscation act. Gen. Hunter afterwards had command of the Department of Kansas, with his headquarters at Fort Leavenworth. While in command of this Department, he received the following complimentary dispatch from Gen. Halleck, dated St. Louis, February 19, 1862: "To you, more than any other man out of this Department, are we indebted for our success at Fort Donelson. In my strait for troops to reinforce Gen. Grant, I applied to you. You responded nobly, placing your forces at my disposal. This enabled me to win the victory. Accept my most heartfelt thanks." In March, 1862, he was ordered to South Carolina, assuming command of the Department of the South, consisting of the States of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and establishing his headquarters at Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C. On the 11th of the month following, Fort Pulaski surrendered to the forces under his command. May 9, 1862, Gen. Hunter issued a proclamation, declaring the slaves of all the rebels in his Department free, which was annulled by the President on the 19th of the same month. June 16th, a portion of the troops under Gen. Hunter's command met with a severe repulse at the battle of James Island, near Charleston, Brig. Gen. Benham having, in direct violation of Gen. Hunter's orders, made an attack upon the enemy. Having organized negro regiments in his Department, which was also done by another Federal officer, the following order was issued by the rebel authorities: WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, General Orders, No. 60.] 1. Whereas, Major General Hunter, recently in command of the enemy's forces on the coast of South Carolina, and Brigadier General Phelps, a military commander of the enemy in the State of Louisiana, have organized negro slaves for military service against their masters, citizens of this Confederacy: And whereas, The Government of the United States has refused to answer an inquiry whether said conduct of its officers meets its sanction, and has thus left to this government no other means of repressing said crimes and outrages than by the adoption of such measures of retaliation as shall serve to prevent their repetition; Ordered, That Major General Hunter and Brigadier General Phelps be no longer held and treated as public enemies of the Confederate States, but as outlaws; and that in the event of the capture of either of them, or that of any other commissioned officer employed in drilling, organizing, or instructing slaves, with a view to their armed service in this war, he shall not be regarded as a prisoner of war, but held in close confinement for execution as a felon, at such time and place as the President may order. By order, S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General. He remained in that Department until early in September, when, by order of the Commander-in-Chief, he proceeded to Washington, giving up the command of the Department of South Carolina to Gen. O. M. Mitchell. While there, he wrote the following letter to the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., President of the National Freedman's Association of New York, dated Hilton Head, S. C., July 17, 1862. As Gen. Hunter is by education and choice a soldier, what he says in regard to the subject of slavery at this time has a weight and authority to which the opinions of few men are entitled. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication, dated June 2, 1862, expressing to me the approval of my course in regard to the freed slaves of this Department by the important and benevolent association of which you are President. Satisfied of having attempted, in the absence of instructions, to do my duty in the matter according to the best lights of my judgment and a long experience, every assurance of sympathy from men whose characters I esteem is gratifying, and enables me to wait with more patience for those inevitable days which are to give a policy on the slavery question to our Government. It is my only fear that the lesson may not be understood and acted upon until read in characters of blood at the fireside of every Northern family. To attain wisdom we must suffer; but that wisdom on the slavery question must finally be obtained, is my sustaining faith. order on these occasions. "Let in fresh air and sunlight; let purity replace corruption." But in presence of one great evil, which has so long brooded over our country, the intelligence of a large portion of our people would seem paralyzed and helpless. Their moral nerves lie torpid under its benumbing shadow. Its breath has been the pestilence of the political atmosphere in which our statesmen have been nurtured; and never, I fear, until its beak is dripping with the best blood of the country, and its talons tangled in her vitals, will the free masses of the loyal States be fully aroused to the necessity of abating the abomination at whatever cost and by whatever agencies. This is written, not politically, but according to my profession in the military sense. (only too possible) of a peace which shall be Looking forward, there looms up a possibility nothing but an armistice, with every advantage secured to the Rebellion. Nothing can give us permanent peace but a successful and energy at our command, to its logical prosecution of the war, with every weapon and legitimate conclusion. The fomenting cause of the Rebellion must be abated; the axe must be laid to the root of the upas tree which has rained down such bitter fruit upon our country, before anything like a permanent peace can be justly hoped. Already I see signs in many influential quarters, heretofore opposed to my views in favor of arming the blacks, of a change of sentiment. Our recent disasters before Richmond have served to illuminate many minds. To speak of using the negroes merely for throwing up entrenchments, is a step in the right direction, though far short of what must be the end. It has the advantage, however, of making the further and final steps necessary; for men working in face of the enemy must have arms with which to protect themselves if suddenly attacked. On the whole, there is much reason to be satisfied with the progress made by public sentiment, considering how deeply-rooted were the prejudices to be overcome, the general failure of the nation to realize at first the proportions of the war, and the impunity still extended to those Northern traitors who are the plunderers of the Government by means of fraudulent army and navy contracts, on the one hand, while using every energy of tongue and pen to excite discontent with our Government and sympathy with the more candid and courageous traitors of the South who are in arms against us. Our people are not dull of comprehension in regard to matters about which free play is given to their common sense. When a fire is spreading through a block of houses, they do not hesitate to batter down an intermediate house to save the remainder of the block. When the plague occupies an infected district, In conclusion, it may not be inappropriate the district is quarantined, and every resource to say that in transmitting the approval of of science and industry put forth to rid the the National Freedman's Relief Association locality of its presence. The soldiers of health of my course, you were-doubtless, unconare by no means ordered to mount guard over sciously-indorsing views which your own each smitten house and see that the vested earnest eloquence had no slight share in interests of pestilence are protected. "Break maturing. Though without the pleasure of open doors, if they be not opened," is the your personal acquaintance, I was, during a |