COLONEL DeWITT CLINTON HUNTER

From the 1887 History of Vernon County, Missouri, p. 646-647:

Col. D. C. Hunter

(Nevada).

   DeWitt Clinton Hunter, for over 30 years a resident of Vernon county and long associated with its affairs in official, military and other capacities, comes of Southern antecedents, though himself a native of Manchester, Scott county Ill., where he was born August 2, 1830.  David and Margaret (McBride) Hunter were his parents, the former of North Carolina birth, but of Swiss ancestry, and the latter originally from Tennessee.  David Hunter lived in Illinois from 1820 until 1837, his death occurring in Cedar county, Mo., in 1854, whither he had moved in the year mentioned.  DeWitt C., the fourth of five children in the family, accompanied the family on their removal to Cedar county, Mo., and consequently was principally brought up there on the old home farm until 1850, when he took a trip to California.  Four years were spent in the mines in that country and he met with moderate success, but a desire to return home led him to leave the gold fields, and in 1854 he came back to Cedar county, coming thence to this county the same year.  For one year he clerked in a store, but his natural qualifications for the position becoming recognized he was appointed the first circuit and county clerk of Vernon county, his official duties lasting up to the time of the war.  Mr. Hunter's public services in this county are so voluminously referred to in another portion of this work that repetition seems unnecessary.  When the war broke out, not unworthy of the principles which had been incalcated in him, and a firm champion of Southern interests, he promptly identified himself with the cause of the South, and entered the State service as lieutenant.  Upon the reorganization of the Vernon county battalion he became colonel of the 7th cavalry regiment, Rains' division, Missouri State Guard, and led it at the battle of Wilson's Creek.  When his term of service had expired he entered the Confederate service and in the fall of 1862 was commissioned colonel of the 11th Missouri infantry, a regiment previously recruited by him in this section of the State.  He served in Arkansas under Gen. Hindman (taking part in the battle of Prairie Grove) until February 1, 1863, when he resigned and, raising another regiment of cavalry, joined Gen. Shelby's brigade, with which he was identified until the close of the war.  During Shelby's raid in to Missouri, when that officer was defeated at Marshall, and his force cut in two, Col. H. led 500 men, over 200 miles through a hostile country safely into Arkansas.  Indeed his entire military service was one to which he may justly point with pride.  After the war Col. Hunter came to this county and engaged in the practice of law, having been admitted to the bar in 1858.  Since then he has been occupied in the insurance and real estate business in connection with his legal affairs.  He has been twice married; first, 1855, to Miss M. Kate, daughter of Dr. Wm. G. Blake, of Cedar county, Mo.  She died March 23, 1879, leaving three children:  Blake DeWitt and Katie, deceased, and Mary, now living.  Col. Hunter's present wife was formerly Mrs. Mary B. Watts, daughter of William Ward, of Sedalia, Mo.  She has two children by a former marriage, Florence and William E., the latter of whom is in the regular army.  By this marriage there is one daughter, Berta Ward.  The Colonel is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and an able defender of the teachings of that body.

[Transcribed by Marty Patton]

 Col. DeWitt Clinton Hunter, 1830-1904, part one

By Patrick Brophy (reprinted with permission)
The Nevada Daily Mail, Nevada, MO.  Thursday, September 8, 2005

     He's been called "our most notable citizen of all times." His name graces a street. Franklin Norman is campaigning to get the name affixed to a public building.

     He named and surveyed Nevada. He was the first resident, attorney, circuit and county clerk, and postmaster. He designed and superintended the first courthouse.

     Yet one suspects most Nevadans today have only a hazy conception of him, and odds are strong most younger citizens and newer comers have never even heard of him.

      His story's been told time on time, but perhaps it's time it was told again, especially in anticipation of his commemoration and the dedication of his new gravestone in a colorful ceremony at the grave in Deepwood Cemetery, at 11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 1, as a fitting part of the Nevada-Vernon County Sesquicentennial observance.

     Years ago the present writer wrote in these pages: "Jaeger Street? Yes, Nevada just might have boasted a 'Jaeger Street' (or Jaegerstrasse?) if a certain Swiss-German family hadn't decided to anglicize its name a couple of centuries ago."

     The startling thought was inspired by a 1986 correspondence with William J. Hunter, of Orleans, Ontario, who wrote the Vernon County Historical Society: "I'm compiling the history of the family of John and Barbara (Bowman) Hunter who settled in Washington County, Tennessee, in 1783." Mr. Hunter promised to send us a copy of his history when it was completed, but seemingly it never was. Recent efforts to revive the correspondence were unsuccessful.

     "John Hunter signed the marriage bond of his son John as Johann Jaeger," William Hunter wrote. "Jaeger, pronounced Yeager, is German for 'hunter'; so it appears John anglicized his name about 1780-81 when living in Rockingham County, Virginia.

     "The name may well have been Swiss, as stated in the Vernon County history's biography of DeWitt C. Certainly a tradition within an Arkansas branch of the family holds that the family is of Swiss origin. I suspect they may have been Swiss before being forced into the Palatinate of Germany because of their religious beliefs."

     Our subject was born while the family's western progress found them in Illinois, in 1830; but by 1837 they were in Dade County, Mo., where the father, David Hunter, was a justice of the peace. When northern Dade hived off as Cedar County in 1845, he became one of its first judges (now called commissioners) of the county court (now commission).

     The third of David and Margaret (McBride) Hunter's four sons was named DeWitt Clinton, after the builder of the Erie Canal.

     He grew up on "the old home farm" in southern Cedar County, 'and in 1850 headed, like many another young man, for the California goldfields. "Four years were spent in the mines, and he met with moderate success," but he grew homesick, came back to Cedar County in 1854, and moved on over into Vernon the same year. He clerked for a time in a store, and nothing is known of his schooling; "but his natural qualifications becoming recognized he was appointed the first circuit and county clerk."

     Vernon was just getting organized, and young Hunter was "present at the creation." This was the memorable 1855 first meeting of the county court in Noah Caton's log cabin home three miles north of the present Nevada Square. Locating and naming a county seat was a first order of business.

     The Nevada neighborhood had acquired the name "Fairview," for its glades of white oaks; but when the name was proposed, Hunter pointed out that a Cass County post office already bore it. "Well, then, Hunter," the judges retorted, "voz give it a name."

     Hunter had spent his California years around Nevada City, and had pleasant memories of that Sierra town. He proposed that name. The court turned over the idea, and decided they liked it, and it was adopted. The "City" would be dropped on incorporation in 1869.

     Hunter, also deputy county surveyor, was hustled off to lay out the new town. In May of 1856 he began work on a house, on Lot 8, Block 7 (southwest of the Square). A.G. Anderson had earlier begun work on a "store house," but his structure was blown away in a windstorm, so Hunter's frame home was the first building to be completed in Nevada.

     "Hunter's house was used for a courthouse when court was first held-in Nevada, and the Colonel built a smokehouse in which he allowed the grand jury to deliberate!"

     About this time Hunter married M. Kate Blake, and the Hunters became the first resident Nevadans. Miss Blake was also a Cedar Countian, the daughter of Dr. William G. Blake.

     Hunter was assigned to design and superintend a new courthouse. Election confirmed his appointment as circuit and county clerk.

     The Federal government appointed him Nevada's first postmaster. In 1858 he was admitted to the bar, becoming Nevada's first attorney. He was a founding member of two local churches, First Christian and Seventh Day Adventist, and a charter member of the Osage Lodge No. 303, A.F. & A.M. (Masons).

     The Kansas troubles of the late 1850s led to the sending of the state's major military force to Vernon and Bates counties, and the organizing of local militia companies. As if Hunter didn't have enough jobs, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the company raised in Nevada.

     Late in 1860, he figured as the hero (or villain?) of an oft-told incident. "An old Nevada Republican came to the polls to vote for Lincoln, but Col. D.C. Hunter informed him that there was no Lincoln poll book, and at last, in all good humor, derided the old man into abandoning his intention." Voting was not secret in those days, but by live voice.

     Hunter actually only became a colonel the following year. "When the war broke out, not unworthy of the principles which had been inculcated in him, and a firm champion of Southern interests, he promptly identified himself with the cause of the South, and entered the State service as lieutenant. Upon the reorganization of the Vernon County Battalion (essentially the force raised the previous year) he became colonel of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, Rains' (8th) Division, Missouri State Guard (the militia, today called the National Guard)."

     "Its six companies bore names such as Vernon Rangers and Vernon Guards."

     Officers of volunteers, up to the rank of colonel, were in those days elected by the troops. Thus Hunter, a green 31-year-old lawyer, led some 300 to 500 men off to battle.

     Many of such amateur officers proved to be duds on the battlefield. Others, like merchant Nathan Bedford Forrest, turned out better leaders of men than many West Pointers. Col. DeWitt C. Hunter fell unquestionably among the latter.

Deepwood Cemetery, Nevada

Vernon County, Missouri

(back of gravestone)

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