Andrew Hunter (lawyer)

Andrew H. Hunter (March 22, 1804 – November 21, 1888) was the District Attorney for Charles Town, Virginia, who prosecuted John Brown for the raid on Harpers Ferry.

Early life

Hunter was born in Martinsburg, then in Berkeley County, Virginia in 1804. He was educated at Washington Academy and graduated from Hampden-Sydney College with highest honors in 1822.

Career

As an adult, Hunter was admitted to the bar in 1822 and practiced law in Harper’s Ferry.

In 1831 Hunter settled in Charlestown, Jefferson County, and was for many years an attorney for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.

Hunter was a presidential elector for the Whig party in 1840, but declined nomination for Congress.

In the session of 1846/47, Hunter served in the House of Delegates.

In 1850, Hunter was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850. He was one of four delegates elected from the northern Valley delegate district made up of his home district of Jefferson County as well as Berkeley and Clarke Counties.

Hunter indicted and prosecuted John Brown and his associates for treason against Virginia in 1859.

During the American Civil War, Hunter served under the Confederate regime in the Virginia House of Delegates for the session 1861/62, and again during 1862 and 1863. He then served as a State Senator for his district while occupied by Federal troops in the sessions of 1863/64 and 1864/65. Hunter advised Robert E. Lee during the war as an advisor on Civil and Military affairs.

After the war, he again served as an attorney for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and was part of the suit to take back the counties of Jefferson and Berkeley.

Death

Andrew Hunter died in Charlestown, Jefferson County, West Virginia on November 21, 1888.