Robert M. T. Hunter

Hunter, Robert Mercer Taliaferro

Born:  April 21, 1809  Died:  July 18, 1887

Robert M. T. Hunter was a U.S. senator from Virginia who was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1860. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1828 and was admitted to the bar two years later. He served in the Virginia assembly (1834-1837), the U.S. House of Representatives (1837-1843, 1845-1847), and the U.S. Senate (1847-1861). During the Civil War Hunter served as the Confederate secretary of state (1861-1862) and in the Confederate Senate (1862-1865), where he was occasionally president pro tempore. In February 1865 he was one of the Confederacy’s commissioners to the unsuccessful Hampton Roads peace negotiations. After the war he served as Virginia’s state treasurer (1874-1880).

Source consulted:Biographical Directory of the United States Congress