Herman Hunt
1st cousin 3x removed of Dorotha Piechocki
1st Lieutenant Co. I 21st MI Infantry
Dates of Service: 19 Aug 1862 - 16 Dec 1862
Herman Hunt was the second son of Ormond Hunt and Delia Noyes. Born in Tunbridge, Vermont Oct. 14th, 1824, Herman emigrated with his family to Michigan around the age of 12 in 1836. They settled in Boston, Ionia County, where Ormond farmed.
From https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33667824/herman-hunt (anonymous author) "Though not a "forty-niner," [Herman] went to California for the "Gold Rush" with Dr. Cyrenus Kelsey of Saranac, leaving home on Mar. 30th, 1850. They made it to Hangtown or Placerville by Aug. 10th, 1850, but the hardships of their journey took its toll on Dr. Kelsey who died soon after. For the sake of his own health, by December Herman decided to head back home to Michigan. Having made the trip west across land, he returned by boat via Nicaragua, New Orleans, Havana and New York. Returning poorer than he left, he wrote in his journal he had "seen the Elephant" (a consolatory phrase used by those who endured hardship on the California trail to find disappointment in the end). He had taken his chance to see the world, but the hardships endured led to disappointment instead.
"After his return, Herman married Elizabeth English on Sep. 29th, 1852. Having sold his share of the original family homestead in Boston township, Herman and Elizabeth set up housekeeping in a log house on the farm which he had bought, just east of Saranac. Their three children were born in the log house…."
When Company I of the 21st Michigan Infantry Regiment was organized August 19, 1862, Herman Hunt was commissioned as 1st Lieutenant. "The 21st Michigan Infantry was mustered into Federal service at Ionia, Michigan, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 9, 1862. The regiment recruited its members starting on July 15, 1862, from the 4th Congressional District which included the Michigan counties of Barry, Ionia, Montcalm, Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon, Oceana, Newaygo, Mason, Mecosta, Manistee, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Manitou, Osceola, Emmet, Mackinac, Delta, and Cheboygan.
"A beautiful silk flag was provided by the ladies of Ionia and delivered to the 21st Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment on 6 September 1862, at that city. The center of the flag was decorated with the American eagle, holding its quiver of arrows, olive branch, etc. Over this a small National flag, and beneath it the words 'Union,' 'Constitution'…. At the same time there was presented a flag by the children of the Grand Haven Sunday-schools to Company G of the regiment. The flag given to the regiment was carried through all of its engagements, brought back to the State, and at a celebration on July 4, 1865, was formally returned, on behalf of the regiment, to the ladies by the Hon. John Avery, of Greenville, the highest-ranking officer of the regiment present, and was received on behalf of the ladies by the Hon. John B. Hutchins, of Ionia. [Today the regimental flag is housed within the Ionia County Courthouse, Ionia, Michigan.]
"The regiment left its quarters at Ionia, Michigan, on the 12th of September in command of Colonel Stevens, 1,008 strong, under orders to report at Cincinnati. It was immediately pushed forward into Kentucky via Louisville, and became early engaged in the realities of war. On 1 October, the 21st Michigan broke camp at Louisville and entered upon a long march through Kentucky. On the 8th it bore an important part in the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky. In this battle, the 21st Michigan suffered a loss of 24 wounded (1 mortally) and 3 missing, Colonel Stevens being among the wounded. From Perryville the regiment moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and on November 4, 1862, proceeded to Nashville, arriving there on the 12th and encamped, remaining there until the general advance of General Rosecrans on Murfreesboro."
Sources: 21st_Michigan_Volunteer_Infantry_Regiment
Picture source: By Mathew Brady - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain
From Nashville, "word was sent back home to Michigan that Herman was in a hospital in Nashville. His brother Simeon and brother-in-law John English started on a trip to help bring Herman back to Michigan. Along the way they were sent a telegraph by a surgeon who told them Lt. Hunt's condition was improving….
"In a letter dated December 1862, Simeon Hunt wrote to Herman's widow Elizabeth:
'Oh how much I would have given could we have reached Nashville before Herman died - but it was impossible - he died at 1/2 past 3 P M and we did not arrive there until 8 in the evening.
Oh I cannot realize yet that Herman is dead! It was so unexpected to us from the Dispatch we received from the surgeon we had hoped to find him better - and thought in a few days we should be able to bring him home with us - but it appears that there was another Lieut. Hunt (from Ohio) at the same Hospital and the surgeon did not take the trouble to find out their given names.' "
Herman died of dysentery Dec. 16th, 1862, in the camp hospital in Nashville. His remains had been interred there in the National Cemetery, but were disinterred and returned to Saranac, Ionia Co., Michigan, where he was reburied in the Saranac Cemetery. In 1951, an upright marble military headstone was installed by the Grand River Valley Post 4363, VFW, on his gravesite.
"As a firm believer in education, after Herman's death, Elizabeth sent her oldest son Edson Hale Hunt to Michigan Agricultural College (now MSU), to help him better manage the family farm. After Edson's graduation in 1877, he returned home to run the farm, while Elizabeth moved to Ann Arbor, where she put her son Ormond Fremont and daughter Mary Elizabeth through the State University (now U of M)." - From https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33667824/herman-hunt
Elizabeth received a pension for Herman's service.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES: Ancestry dot com; wikipedia; nps.gov; fold3
GRAVESITE: Saranac Cemetery, Saranac, Ionia Co, Michigan
Written by Dorotha Simmons Piechocki, March 2020