22 Jan Captain Charles Hunter

Captain Charles Hunter, c. 1875. Richard Saltonstall Greenough (1819-1904). Marble. Gift of Henry D. Phelps.

Charles Hunter (1774-1849), son of Senator William Hunter (President of Redwood 1846-49) and Mary Robinson, was born in Newport 19 June 1813. He entered the Navy in 1831, was promoted to Lieutenant in 1841 and retired from service in 1855 due to ill health. He married Mary Rotch in 1848 and returned to active duty in 1862 when Fort Sumter was fired on. In October of 1862 the ship he commanded fired on a supposedly neutral ship in Cuban waters. Hunter was dismissed from the Navy but was later vindicated and reinstated as Captain by a special act of Congress in 1867. Captain Hunter, his wife and daughters were passengers on the S.S. Ville de Havre when she was lost at sea 22 November 1873.