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Alexander Cameron Hunt

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Alexander Cameron Hunt
4th Governor of the Territory of Colorado
In office
1867–1869
Preceded byAlexander Cummings
Succeeded byEdward M. McCook
Personal details
Born(1825-12-23)December 23, 1825
New York, New York
DiedMay 14, 1894(1894-05-14) (aged 68)
Washington, DC

Alexander Cameron Hunt (December 23, 1825 – May 14, 1894) was the fourth governor of the Territory of Colorado, serving from 1867 to 1869 as a member of the Republican Party.

Hunt was born in New York, New York, on January 12, 1825. Soon after his birth his family moved to Freeport, Illinois, where he grew up and later served as mayor. Hunt traveled to California in 1850 to join the California Gold Rush and to the Pike's Peak Country in 1858 to join the Pike's Peak Gold Rush.[citation needed] He established a ranch which was later converted into Fort Weld.[1]: 379  Hunt was chosen as the judge of Denver's Vigilante Committee.[2]: 240, 241  By 1860, he was an official of the Auraria Town Company.[1]: 300–301  As a company leader, he presided over the meeting to combine Auraria and Denver.[2]: 250  In 1861, Hunt was appointed U.S. Marshal for the new Territory of Colorado. At the start of the American Civil War, Hunt was part of the committee to plan the defense of Denver.[2]: 264  Following the war, Hunt led the anti-statehood movement in the territory.[2]: 371 

This paragraph is an excerpt from 1866 Colorado territorial delegate election.[edit]

In 1866 the Territory of Colorado held an election for the delegate to congress with inconclusive results. George M. Chilcott was sworn in after being nominated by the leading republic party in the territory and the canvassing board certifying that he won the majority of the votes. However, Governor Alexander Cummings denied the authority the of board and declared Alexander Cameron Hunt the winner.

U.S. President Andrew Johnson appointed Hunt as the new governor of the Territory of Colorado on April 24, 1867. As Governor he organized a meeting between Ouray and Johnson. The meeting culminated in a treaty in which the Uintah Ute had to leave Colorado and all Ute tribes ceded their favorite hunting ground in Middle Park. When gold and silver was found in the remaining lands, the United States abandoned the treaty.[3][1]: 434  While Hunt was traveling, he appointed Frank Hall to act in his place.[4] Hunt served as the territorial governor until June 14, 1869 when new president Ulysses S. Grant appointed Edward Moody McCook to replace him. McCook was a longtime friend of Grant and had resigned the position of delegate to Hawaii to return to Washington, DC to lobby for the governorship of Colorado.[2]: 467, 468 

Hunt was married to Ellen Elizabeth Kellogg, who died in Colorado in 1880. Their son Albert Cameron Hunt was an electrician who invented the wigwag.[5]

Hunt died in Washington, D.C., on May 14, 1894, and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery with his second wife, Alice (died 1920), and her parents (Judge John Curtiss Underwood and his wife, Maria) and brother.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Smiley, Jerome C. (1901). History of Denver: With Outlines of the Earlier History of the Rocky Mountain Country. Times-Sun Pub. Co. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28.
  2. ^ a b c d e Hall, Frank (2008). History of the state of Colorado : from prehistory to 1895. Lake City, Colo. : Western Reflections Pub. Co. ISBN 978-1-932738-54-4.
  3. ^ Johnson, Brian (9 November 2021). "Ute Removal and The Hunt Treaty - The Agreement a Buffalo Makes When Pierced with Arrows Denver Public Library". www.denverlibrary.org.
  4. ^ Atherean, Robert G. (January 1956). "Colorado and the Indian War of 1868" (PDF). Colorado Magazine. 33 (1): 49.
  5. ^ The Colorado Magazine. State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado. 1962. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
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