Jared C. Hunt

Jared was born in Westampton, MA around 1834 to Elihu B. and Cynthia W. (Chapin) Hunt. His father had been married previously and was almost 20 years older than his mother, which was not at all unusual for the time. Jared was raised with siblings from his father's first marriage. By 1840 the family had moved to Springfield, MA and Elihu was one of the town butchers.

Jared had finished school and was working as a laborer and sometimes clerk by the 1850 US Census. His unmarried sister Esther S. Hunt lived with them on and off. Elihu died in 1860, and Cynthia in 1861, and Esther went to live with family in Easthampton.

On July 2, 1857 Jared was united in marriage with Eliza Lathrop Kirkland of Agawam, MA by Minister Ralph Perry. The family lived at 15 West Bridge Street in Springfield, and Jared was working as a clerk and mail agent / merchant. Jared and Eliza had at least two children: Mary Eliza in 1858 and Elihu T. in 1862. Like her aunt Esther, Mary Eliza would never marry. Elihu became the propriator of a popular flower shop in West Springfield.

Then came the US Civil War. Jared enlisted on August 21, 1862 and mustered the next day into Company F of the 10th Massachusetts Infantry. Before long he was promoted to the rank of Corporal. During his service the 10th Mass was present during many of the major battles including Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg.

Corporal Hunt was wounded on May 12, 1864 at Spottsylvania Court House, VA when Union forces attacked a Confederate position in the area known as "Mule Shoe". In the intense fighting he recieved a mini ball wound in right shoulder which fractured the bone. Another shot fractured his left knee. On May 26 word reached home via newspaper reports that he and three other men in Company F had been wounded.

He and other wounded men who could be moved were brought to one of the military hospitals in and around Washington, DC for further treatment. After lingering for a month he died June 13th, 1864 at the Armory Square General Hospital in Washington, DC. Corporal Hunt was "taken by friends" back home to Massachusetts and is buried in the Agawam Center Cemetery in Agawam, MA.

On his gravestone it is written that he was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. The Battle of the Wilderness took place in the days before Spottslyvania Court House, and both were part of the Overland Campaign along the Rapidan River, and are sometimes lumped together.