John Richard Hunt was born in 1833 in Dublin, Ireland. Not much is known regarding John Hunt prior to the war until he appeared in records relating to his service in the U.S. military. It appears he enlisted as a private in the 30th New Jersey Infantry Regiment for a period of nine months, on September 3, 1862 and was mustered into Company “E” on September 17; after which he was promoted to Corporal.  Upon the expiration of his enlistment period, he was given a disability discharge due to rheumatism he had developed, on June 27, 1863 at Flemington, New Jersey. Hunt’s regiment was a participant in General Burnside’s infamous “Mud-march”, which occurred in January 1863, while the Army of the Potomac was garrisoned near Fredericksburg, Virginia.
After Burnside's humiliating defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December of 1862, his army remained in place around the town of Falmouth, Virginia; just across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg.

In late January Burnside decided to once again attack the Confederate forces. He scouted up and down the Rappahannock and everywhere he looked he saw Lees troops digging in, throwing up earthworks and covering the river banks with interlocking lanes of fire from muskets and artillery.

Lee was able to cover more than 25 miles of the river with thinly stretched divisions and post guards on at least 50 miles. Burnside, however, was determined to over come it all through deception.

Somerset County Flag
 

30th New Jersey Volunteers Flag
He ordered preparations as though he was preparing for a crossing at scattered points, miles apart. New roads were cut, pontoons were brought up, guns were dug in, companies marched back and forth, cavalry was sent to demonstrate under the eyes of the enemy. Because the hills along the narrower Rappahannock River upstream were the best site for his covering artillery, Burnside decided to move across United States Ford, ten miles above Fredericksburg.

That sweeping maneuver he felt would put him on the flank of Lees army. As Burnsides army began moving westward, appearing to make ready for a downstream crossing, Lee strengthened his left to ward off the coming thrust. Burnside, meanwhile, altered his plan and aimed at Banks Ford; a closer crossing.

At dawn on January 21st engineers would push five bridges across; after that, two temporary Union commands of two corps each would cross the river in four hours.   Meanwhile, another division would distract the Confederates by repeating the December crossing at Fredericksburg.

But before Union soldiers could start hauling guns and pontoons into place, torrential rain began to fall. By morning, the roads became impassable. Some 150 pieces of artillery were scheduled to be in place and pontoons for five bridges, but there were not enough available for even a single bridge. Double and triple teams of horses and mules were hitched to each pontoon wagon and long ropes were attached, on which the soldiers pulled, sometimes 150 men trying to move a single boat. They would founder through mud for a few feet and simply give up; breathless. Night came again and pontoons still had not reached the river. As the afternoon passed, Burnside rode through Brigadier General Albion P. Howes camp; Burnside and his horse completely covered with mud, but he refused to give up. He ordered in food for two more days and authorized a generous whiskey ration for everyone. Still the rain fell. An indescribable chaos of pontoons, wagons and artillery then blocked the road to the river. Horses and mules dropped down dead, exhausted trying to move their loads through the deep mud. One hundred and fifty dead animals, many of them buried in the mud, were counted in a mornings ride. Burnsides problem was no longer how to cross and fight; but how to retrieve his army from the elements.

Across the river, the Confederates sang out. Every Yankee remembered the broad signs put up by Lees watching men-- 'Burnside stuck in the mud", "This way to Richmond," and "Yanks, if you cant place your pontoons, we will send help." The Confederates even plowed the banks along their side of the river so that if any of Burnsides men did get across, they would sink into even more mud. But no Union soldiers crossed, in what history came to know as the infamous Union "Mud March." As Burnsides men dragged themselves back to camp, the mud-coated Union regiments were indistinguishable one from another and the army had become a disorganized mob.

      It appears John Hunt remained in the U.S. for some time after the war, because he married Elanor Hudnut in Somerset County, New Jersey in 1882. She was some fifteen years younger than he was; John was 64 and Eleanor only 49; and Eleanor died the year after they were married.   Hunt was Mustered Out of service on June 27, 1863 at Flemington, New Jersey.

It appears John then migrated to Australia, after the death of his first wife, sometime within the next three years; because records reveal he married his second wife, Ione Helen Townsend on December 22, 1886 at Rooty Hills, New South Wales in Australia.  Ione Helen, like John’s first wife was much younger than he was; thirty years younger than John. They had two children, Walter J. who was born in 1886 and Helen Florence born in 1891.

John was at that time employed as a carpenter and the family lived in a number of locations in Sydney, including Newtown, Haymarket, Petersham and in 1899 at Marrickville.   An application for a military Pension, dated December 22, 1890, was verified to by Mr. W.H. Hunt who is thought to have been John’s brother.An accompanying physician’s report stated John was still suffering badly from rheumatism which made work difficult. He stated the rheumatism was

not the result of John’s habits, but due to conditions for which he had received a discharge in 1863. John’s military pension was awarded at the rate of $6 (US) a month and was increased to $12 a month in late 1904 due to a determination of total disability; witnessed to by a fellow Civil War veteran, Andrew W. Kinross on November 12, 1904.

John Richard Hunt died of “cardiac debilitation, dropsy and exhaustion” on August 28, 1911, at the Rookwood Asylum in Sydney, New South Wales, at 78 years of age. After his death Ione Helen, his wife, applied for a widow’s pension which she received, and continued to live with her son Walter and his wife in Brisbane, Queensland; eventually moving to Murwillumbah, New South Wales. The widow’s pension she received amounted to $40 a month, which continued until her death in a hospital at Lismore, New South Wales; in 1947. Walter paid for his mothers medical expenses and funeral, and was repaid 436 pounds, 10 shillings and 9 pence.

John Hunt was buried in Rookwood Cemetery in the Church of England Section NNN, in grave number 296.

Residence of John Richard Hunt

4 Church Street, Marrickville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
 

Birth, Marriage and Death Records, New South Wales

Birth Marriage and Death Records, Somerset County, New Jersey

Charles Bracken, Washington, D.C.

General Registrar’s Office of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

Regimental Histories

“Register of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War 1861-65”, 1876

Rookwood Cemetery Records

Somerset County Historical Society, Bridgewater, New Jersey

U.S. Pension Records, National Archives, Washington, D.C.