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Brigadier General
Eppa Hunton
1822- 1908 |
The name Eppa Hunton was closely identified with the 8th Virginia Regiment
throughout it's nearly four years of service. Hunton was Colonel of the
8th from the organization until August 1863, then served as commander of
the brigade in which the regiment served until three days before
Appomattox.
Hunton, former school teacher and lawyer, played an active role in democratic
politics. At the outbreak of the war, he was serving as Commonwealth
Attorney at Brentsville, Prince William County, Virginia.
Unbending in his politics, he refused to listen to a "Northern
Methodist" minister preach when they both lived in Brentsville
before the war. However, he gladly accepted him into the 8th and made
him Chaplain. When Charles F. Lithicum was killed at Cold Harbor in
1864, no one mourned him more than Hunton.
He was described by a contemporary as:" one who had none of the
arts of the orator, except that of earnestness and candor, and a view
of strong common sense in all that he said." Ill health
plagued him throughout the war. An annoying fistula that did not respond
to treatment caused him much suffering, and forced his absence from
command frequently. It also delayed his appointment to higher command.
He was elected to the Virginia Secession Convention as an "
Immediate Secession Candidate," and continued to press for
secession as the convention dragged on. When the convention voted to
secede on April 17th, Hunton immediately applied for a commission in the
Virginia forces. Governor John Letcher commissioned him Colonel of the
8th Regiment Virginia Infantry, to be assembled at Leesburg, Virginia.
At Sayler's Creek on April 6, 1865, Brigadier General Hunton was
captured with most of his command as Union cavalry intercepted the
retreat. Sent to Ft. Warren, Boston Harbor, he would remain a prisoner
until July.
Returning to private life, Hunton opened a law office in the fall of
1865 in Warrenton, Va. Elected to Congress in 1872, he continued to
serve the northern district of Virginia until 1881, He was appointed to
the United States Senate in 1892, and served in that body until 1895
when he retired to private life, where he continued to take an active
interest in the affaires of the state until his death in 1908.
Successful as a military leader, he was even more distinguished in the
civil life of his native state, but his greatest reward appears to have
been in the affection that his old soldiers held for him.
Extracted From the book
8th Virginia Infantry
By Mr. John E. Divine
Printed by H. E. Howard,Inc.
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