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John Dunn Hunter

Bust of a young white man in a high collar coat
John Dunn Hunter in 1824

John Dunn Hunter (ca. 1796–1827)[1] was a leader of the Fredonian Rebellion.

Hunter claimed to be ignorant of his birthplace[2] and that he was taken prisoner with two other white children by Native Americans who either belonged to or were associated with the Kickapoo nation.[3] Hunter lived with the Kickapoo until 1816[1] but he traveled widely during that time and received a good education.[1] Not knowing his real name, Hunter took on the name of an English benefactor, one John Dunn.[1] The "hunter" was later added due to his abilities in that field.[1] He became famous in both the US and UK following the publication of Memoirs of a Captivity Among the Indians of North America in 1823.[4]: 148 

While in England in the early 1820s, Hunter met Robert Owen[5] and John Neal.[6] Having lived at the same boarding house for a time in 1824, Neal wrote about him in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine,[4]: 148–149  the most important literary periodical in 1820s Great Britain according to early American literature scholar William B. Cairns.[7] In American Writers (1824–25) he said Hunter was "spoiled by absurd attention" in England; of Memoirs of a Captivity, he said: "He could not get up a better book, without assistance."[8] The same year he said in the same magazine:

As for what Mr John D. Hunter (who knows nothing at all of the Indian History—or the designs of the American government) may say about "his countrymen being the worst enemies of his plan," it is all trumpery and stuff. He has no plan at all: He never had any: He never will have any. ... He has been ridiculously misunderstood and over-rated in this country....[9]

Neal's coverage of Hunter in Blackwood's is a largely accurate prediction of Hunter's future reputation as an untrustworthy imposter and filibuster.[4]: 148–149  In 1831, he published a short story called "The Adventurer"—a fictional autobiography meant to satirize Hunter's memoir.[10]

Hunter arrived in Texas in 1825[11] and in December he was sent by Richard Fields to Mexico with the aim of negotiating for a Cherokee settlement in Texas.[1][11] Hunter arrived in Mexico City on March 19, 1826[1] but regretfully returned to Texas April 1826 with news of his failure.[12]

Hunter and Fields then opened negotiations with Martin Parmer which culminated in the Fredonian Rebellion.[1] The Cherokee repudiated the rebellion and ultimately it was decided that Fields and Hunter should be put to death.[13] Hunter escaped but a Mexican militia headed by Peter Ellis Bean was tasked with tracking him down.[13] Hunter was caught and executed in early February 1827.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Hunter, John Dunn". Texas State Historical Association.
  2. ^ Hunter, John Dunn. Memoirs of a Captivity Among the Indians of North America. p. 3.
  3. ^ Hunter, John Dunn. Memoirs of a Captivity Among the Indians of North America. p. 4.
  4. ^ a b c Elmer, Jonathan (2012). "John Neal and John Dunn Hunter". John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press. pp. 145–157. ISBN 978-1-61148-420-5.
  5. ^ Lamborn Wilson, Peter (2003). Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs and European Renegadoes. Autonomedia. p. 30. ISBN 1-57027-158-5.
  6. ^ Richards, Irving T. (May 1936). "John Neal's Gleanings in Irvingiana". American Literature. 8 (2): 170–179. doi:10.2307/2920210. JSTOR 2920210. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  7. ^ Cairns, William B. (1922). British Criticisms of American Writings 1815–1833: A Contribution to the Study of Anglo-American Literary Relationships. University of Wisconsin Studies in Language and Literature Number 14. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin. pp. 10, 15. OCLC 1833885.
  8. ^ Neal, John (1937). Pattee, Fred Lewis (ed.). American Writers: A Series of Papers Contributed to Blackwood's Magazine (1824–1825). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. OCLC 464953146.
  9. ^ Neal, John (December 1824). "A Summary view of America". Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Vol. 16. Edinburgh, UK. p. 639.
  10. ^ Kayorie, James Stephen Merritt (2019). "John Neal (1793–1876)". In Baumgartner, Jody C. (ed.). American Political Humor: Masters of Satire and Their Impact on U.S. Policy and Culture. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 90. ISBN 9781440854866.
  11. ^ a b Everett, Dianna (1995). The Texas Cherokees: A People between Two Fires, 1819–1840. Civilization of the American Indian Series, v. 203. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-585-16884-5.
  12. ^ Everett, Dianna (1995). The Texas Cherokees: A People between Two Fires, 1819–1840. Civilization of the American Indian Series, v. 203. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-585-16884-5.
  13. ^ a b Everett, Dianna (1995). The Texas Cherokees: A People between Two Fires, 1819–1840. Civilization of the American Indian Series, v. 203. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-585-16884-5.

White Savage: The Case of John Dunn Hunter. Richard T. Drinnin Schocken Books, 1972. ISBN 978-0805234619.

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