Hunt, John R., Jr., 1842-1889

Journal, 1862 January-December

Hunt, John R., Jr., 1842-1889
Rank:	1st Lieutenant; Adjutant
Regiment:	81st Ohio Infantry Regiment (1861-1865)
Service:	1862 September 9-1864 September 20

Background note:

Before the Civil War, John R. Hunt had been a student at Miami University and member of the ?KE fraternity. One of six children of John R. Hunt, Sr. (1800-1863) and Amanda B. Hunt (1811-ca.1896), he was living in Cincinnati when news of the bombardment of Fort Sumter arrived, and immediately responded, volunteering on April 19, 1861, for three month's service with Company B of the 20th Ohio Infantry.

Although the official record suggests that Hunt returned to civilian life after mustering out of the 20th Infantry in August, 1861, it seems rather that from that month on, he was affiliated in some capacity with the 81st Ohio Infantry. Hunt is officially recorded as being commissioned as adjutant to the 81st "from civilian life" on September 9, 1862, however between January and March, 1862, he was with the regiment in Missouri, and he accompanied the regiment as it headed south to take part in the Shiloh and Corinth campaigns. In late April, Hunt received a furlough home for a few days, but after returning to the regiment, left again in June for an extended sick-leave, not returning until November.

The 81st Ohio served in Mississippi and Tennessee until 1864, when they were ordered to join in the Atlanta Campaign. In July of that year, Hunt's already precarious health worsened from exposure and heat, and he was granted another sick-leave. On September 20, 1864, he was allowed to resign his commission to return home to care for his ailing mother and settle the estate of his father, who had died the previous year. After the war, residing in Trenton, N.J., Hunt claimed to have suffered from paralysis resulting from his wartime illnesses. He died in Trenton on February 3, 1889, leaving neither widow nor descendants.

Scope and Contents:

John Hunt's surviving Civil War diary contains sporadic accounts of his service as adjutant with the 81st Ohio Infantry Regiment between January and December, 1862. He apparently considered his diary strictly as a war record, and therefore did not make entries during his leaves of absence in April or August through November, with the exception of some brief notes in August about an Ohio Copperhead and the draft.

Befitting a soldier with a strong college education, the diary is very well written, and includes observant descriptions of travels north and south. The diary is at its strongest between May and August, when the 81st Ohio took part in the glacial assault on Corinth, Miss., and in the late fall, when they were encamped before Corinth. Hunt's brief entries provide interesting anecdotes about life in the Union camps, soldiers' amusements, and the scene around Corinth.

M-1808

Link to subject index to the John R. Hunt Journals

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