HUNTER, Robert Mercer Taliaferro

Fast Facts

• Robert M.T. Hunter of Virginia was elected Speaker at the age of 30, making him the youngest lawmaker to ever hold the gavel.
• His election as Speaker began a turbulent period in the House in which lawmakers elected a new Speaker in every Congress for the next 14 years.
• Hunter later served in the Confederate government during the Civil War and met with President Abraham Lincoln in February 1865 to discuss the terms of peace.

Biography

HUNTER, Robert Mercer Taliaferro, a Representative and a Senator from Virginia; born at "Mount Pleasant," near Loretto, Essex County, Va., April 21, 1809; tutored at home; graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1828; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1830 and commenced practice at Lloyds; member of the Virginia state house of delegates, 1834-1837; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses, then elected as an Independent to the Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1837-March 3, 1843); Speaker of the House (Twenty-sixth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Twenty-eighth Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1845-March 3, 1847); chair, Committee on the District of Columbia (Twenty-ninth Congress); elected to the United States Senate in 1846; reelected in 1852 and 1858 and served from March 4, 1847, to March 28, 1861, when he withdrew; expelled from the Senate on July 11, 1861, for support of the rebellion; chairman, Committee on Public Buildings (Thirtieth through Thirty-second Congresses), Committee on Finance (Thirty-first through Thirty-sixth Congresses); delegate from Virginia to the Confederate Provincial Congress at Richmond; Confederate Secretary of State 1861-1862; served in the Confederate Senate from Virginia in the First and Second Congresses 1862-1865 and was President pro tempore on various occasions; was one of the peace commissioners that met with President Abraham Lincoln in Hampton Roads in February 1865; briefly imprisoned at the end of the Civil War; state treasurer of Virginia 1874-1880; collector for the port of Tappahannock, Va. 1885; died on his estate 'Fonthill,' near Lloyds, Va., on July 18, 1887; interment in 'Elmwood,' the family burial ground, near Loretto, Va.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

[ Top ]

Boston Public Library

Brown University

Clemson University
Special Collections

Library of Congress
Manuscript Division

Library of Virginia
Archives

Maine Historical Society

New England Historic Genealogical Society

University of Michigan
Bentley Historical Library

University of Rochester
Rush Rhees Library

University of Virginia
Alderman Library

Virginia Historical Society

[ Top ]

[ Top ]