Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/653

Rh and son had taken refuge at Lynchburg, where Federal General Turner took command after the surrender. He had faced General Hunton on the Howlett house lines, and immediately ordered that his former enemy's family should be supplied with every comfort, a courteous act which General Hunton gratefully acknowledged. On his return to civil life, he resumed the practice of law at Warrenton. It was a time of great privation, but he had confidence in his strength. An incident of this period of struggle was his refusing to sell his war-horse, "Old Morgan," for $500, a princely sum just then; but his family sustained him in keeping the faithful horse. With renewed health, and a brave and confident spirit, fortune soon smiled again, and he became independent and prosperous. Before his political disabilities were removed he was elected to Congress from the Eighth Virginia district. By successive re-elections until he voluntarily retired, he sat in Congress eight years, rendering valuable and important services. In the Forty-third Congress, his first, he joined in the memorable struggle under Samuel J. Randall, for two days and two nights, against the passage of a "force bill." In the Forty-fourth, under Democratic control, he was chairman of the committee on revolutionary pensions, second on the judiciary committee, member of other committees, and as chairman of the sub-committee which investigated the famous charges against James G. Blaine, demonstrated his ability and fairness, and had occasion to encounter the highly gifted Republican leader in the committee room and on the floor of the House, and always with credit. During the proceedings in Congress which followed the contested election of Samuel J. Tilden, General Hunton was a member of the special committee that framed the electoral commission bill, but refused his signature to the report until the last moment. He was elected one of the five who represented the House upon that commission, becoming one of the judges of the highest court the world had ever known. He labored earnestly for the success of Tilden before this tribunal, and his anxiety and the disappointment at the result caused him a severe attack of illness. As a member of the District of Columbia committee in the Forty-fifth and its chairman in the Forty-sixth Congress, he and the Hon. J. C. S. Blackburn framed the present form of administration of that