Forgotten Patriot: Colonel Thomas Hunt, U.S. Army

 As America commemorates its 250th anniversary, stories of patriotism and heroism long forgotten will be revived and retold. Colonel Thomas Hunt, a Veteran of the Revolutionary and Indian Wars interred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery was one of those heroes.  Hunt’s plain marble headstone may suggest a lack of noteworthiness, but at one point in the early history of our Nation, soldiers sang the praises of “the good, the brave and generous Hunt.”

Thomas Hunt was one of at least 12 children born to John and Ruth Fessenden Hunt of Middlesex, Massachusetts, on September 17, 1754. Little is known of his early life, but as the American Revolution approached, Thomas and countless other men his age decided to hone his military skills by becoming minuteman.

 By the time that war broke out in April 1775, Hunt was a sergeant, serving a six-month enlistment term in Captain Abner Craft’s Company. In the flowery language of his eulogy, he “left his parents and took up arms in defense of his injured country, offering his life a sacrifice for the reparation, when liberty or death was the watch word, and oppression and tyranny the countersign: he entered the list as a defender of his country.”

Hunt clearly showed potential in the early days of the war, and he was promoted to the rank of ensign, the equivalent to the modern-day rank of second lieutenant. He served with that rank in the 37th Massachusetts Regiment, a militia unit that fought during the Siege of Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill.

 In 1776, Hunt transferred to the 25th Continental Regiment and earned promotions to adjutant and brigade major by October of that year. Hunt then moved to Colonel Henry Jackson’s Additional Continental Regiment (later redesignated the 16th Continental Regiment) as a captain on February 1, 1777. This regiment participated in the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777, fought at Monmouth and Rhode Island in 1778, and at Springfield, New Jersey, in 1780.

Hunt bore “with fortitude the innumerable toils and fatigues under which thousands of his countrymen fell, whose memories are still dear to us; his merit as a soldier was such that his promotion progressed through the regular gradations.” Still, there was one bright spot at the end of the war and that was his marriage to Eunice Wellington in 1781. The couple would have 11 children together.

Hunt served “until the peace of ’83, when he left the service with the grade of captain; laying down his sword, when the cause for which it had been taken up ceased to exist.” He became an officer in Jackson’s Continental Regiment when it was formed in November 1783. That same year, Hunt was admitted as an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati, the Nation’s oldest patriotic organization which was founded by officers of the Continental Army.

After the Revolution, those close to him recalled how, “happy in his retirement, he enjoyed the peace which he had assisted in procuring for his country, himself and his children. But he had not long remained in this happy situation, until he was called on again by his country [and] he obeyed.”

Hunt was called to serve under Major General “Mad Anthony” Wayne and was commissioned as a captain in the 2nd Infantry Regiment on March 4, 1791. He was present at the Battle of the Wabash, also known as St. Clair’s Defeat, one of the worst defeats in the U.S. Army’s history, and was one of the few survivors.

Following this disaster, Hunt was reassigned to the 1st U.S. Infantry Regiment and promoted to major, going on to fight at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. He earned a promotion to lieutenant colonel on April 1, 1802, and commanded several forts on the western frontier, including Forts Detroit, Defiance, Mackinac, and Wayne, which he completely rebuilt in 1800.

He was promoted to colonel and given command of the 1st Infantry on April 11, 1803. He served in that capacity until he became fatally ill at Fort Bellefontaine, Missouri, in August 1808. According to his eulogy:

He bore his painful disease with patience and fortitude to the very last moment; and when he perceived the approaching dissolution of his body, he called his inconsolable partner to his bedside, and taking her by the hand exclaimed “my god! my country! my wife and children!”

Hunt died on August 18, 1808, and was originally buried at Fort Bellefontaine. In April 1904, his remains were reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, along with those of his wife and one of his grandchildren.

Hunt’s legacy to the nascent U.S. Army was profound. His daughter Abigail married Josiah Snelling, who would serve with distinction during the War of 1812 and became the commander and namesake of Fort Snelling. His grandson, Henry J. Hunt, was a career Army officer who served in the Mexican War and commanded the artillery of the Union Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, most famously at the Battle of Gettysburg.

As America marks its 250th anniversary, the story of Thomas Hunt reminds us that the Nation was not built by famous names alone, but also by ordinary men and women whose courage, sacrifice, and devotion to liberty helped shape the country we celebrate today.

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Sources:

1. Thomas Hunt VLM Page
2. Thomas Hunt Find a Grave Page
3. Thomas Hunt Wikipedia Page
4. Thomas Hunt Eulogy –Missouri Gazette and Public Advertiser, September 7, 1808, pp. 2-3