Robert Hancock Hunter (1813-1902) was born in Circleville, Ohio, to Mary Martha (Harbert) and Dr. Johnson Calhoun Hunter. The Hunters moved to Texas in 1822, settling in Fort Bend County in 1829. Robert Hancock Hunter served during the Texas Revolution, participating in the Grass Fight and the siege of Bexar in both Captain James Franklin Perry’s volunteer company and Captain John Bird’s company. Upon receipt of the news that the Alamo had fallen, Hunter’s unit retreated, and though the unit saw battle in the San Jacinto campaign, Hunter stayed behind in Harrisburg to guard the baggage train. Following the battle, he served as a guard for General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Upon the end of the Texas Revolution in 1836, Hunter returned to Fort Bend County
where he farmed and raised stock. He married Samirah M. Beard in 1841, and they had
seven children. With his wife’s father in 1845, Hunter established a farm and a saw
and grist mill in Guadalupe County. He sold the mill in 1857 and moved to Victoria,
where three years later he wrote his reminiscences of life in Texas and the Texas
Revolution, based on his diary. His memoir,
Source:
The Robert Hancock Hunter Diary, 1813-1892, contains reminiscences of Hunter related to his service with Captain Bird’s company, the Battle of San Jacinto, Runaway Scrape, and the Grass Fight, and includes appended notes by Mrs. Beulah Gayle Greene of Edna, Texas. Also found in the diary is a letter, 1892, written by Hunter and addressed to his son, containing family history, as well as a genealogy and history about Hunter’s father, Dr. Johnson Hunter.
The collection is open for research.
This collection was processed by Sara Rumbo, June 1973.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s