Memucan Hunt, Jr. - Service in Texas

Service in Texas

Almost immediately upon arriving in Texas, Hunt began publicly expressing his views on current policies, writing to interim President David G. Burnet to disagree with his decision to return captured Mexican General Santa Anna to Mexico in exchange for his assurances to recognize Texas's Independence.

When the Mexican government abrogated the Treaty of Velasco as soon as Santa Ana was released, Hunt was appointed brigadier general in the Texas Army in August 1836 by President Burnet with the task of deterring an expected invasion from Mexico. The invasion never materialized and Hunt resigned his commission. The next year, President Sam Houston appointed Hunt as Texas's agent in the United States to assist the diplomat William H. Wharton in securing the United States' recognition of Texas. In March 1837, after successfully concluding that mission, Hunt became Texan Minister in Washington. His proposal for the annexation of Texas in 1837 was rejected by the United States, but he succeeded in negotiating a boundary convention in 1838.

Under Texas's second President, Mirabeau B. Lamar, Hunt was Texas Secretary of the Navy from December 1838 to May 1839, when he became the Texas's representative on the joint United States-Texas boundary commission. In 1841, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President running as David G. Burnet's running mate against Sam Houston.