David Hunter was born on July 21, 1802, in Troy, New York. Hunter attended West Point and graduated in 1822. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 5th U.S. Infantry Regiment. From 1828-1831, Hunter was stationed at Fort Dearborn in Chicago, Illinois. He met and subsequently married Maria Kinzie while stationed at Fort Dearborn. In 1833, he was promoted to captain of the 1st U.S. Dragoons. In 1836, Hunter resigned from the army and worked as a real estate agent. In 1841, Hunter rejoined the army and was promoted to Major in 1842. By 1860, Hunter was stationed in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. When President Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, the two engaged in correspondence emphasizing their own anti-slavery opinions. Lincoln invited him on his inaugural train ride from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, D.C. However, once the train arrived in Buffalo, New York, Hunter, and the train were crowded by onlookers. In the struggle, Hunter’s collarbone was broken.
On May 17, 1861, Hunter was promoted to colonel of the 6th U.S. Cavalry. Lincoln soon appointed Hunter to a brigade that operated in Washington, D.C. On July 21, 1861, the new Colonel was wounded in the cheek and neck at the Battle of First Bull Run. Soon after, in August 1861, Hunter was appointed to major general. On November 2, 1861, he was appointed commander of the Western Department until March of 1862. Within four months, Hunter was transferred to the Department of the South with the X Corps.
As commander of the Department of the South, Hunter began to enlist enslaved peoples, forming the 1st South Carolina (African Descent). He also issued General Order No. 11 on May 9, 1862, which stated that all enslaved peoples in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina were permanently free. General Order No. 11 upset those in the border states, who were slaveholding states in the Union. By the end of summer in September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the Confederacy. Confederate President Jefferson Davis in response to Hunter’s General Order ordered that if Hunter were to be captured, that he should be executed. In 1863, Hunter personally wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In his letter, he attacked the Confederacy and the reasons as to why they were fighting a civil war. He explained, “You say you are fighting for