Stephen Augustus Hurlbut was an American politician.
Background
Hurlbut was born in Charleston, South Carolina in November 29, 1815. His father, Martin Luther Hurlbut, teacher and Unitarian minister, was a native of Southampton, Massachussets, and a descendant of Thomas Hurlbut who settled about 1635 at Saybrook, Connecticut, and later moved to Wethersfield; his mother, before her marriage, was Lydia Bunce of Charleston. William Henry Hurlbert, author and editor, was his half-brother.
Career
Stephen Hurlbut was admitted to the bar in 1837, served in the Seminole War, and in 1845 migrated to Illinois, settling at Belvidere. He was elected as a Whig to the Illinois constitutional convention of 1847 from Boone and McHenry counties, was presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1848, and was elected as a Republican to the Illinois General Assembly for 1858-59 and 1860-61.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commissioned brigadier-general, May 17, 1861. He served in northern Missouri in 1861, and commanded the 4th Division at Shiloh, being stationed in reserve on the left, apparently handling his unit bravely and skilfully. He was promoted to major-general, as of September 17, 1862. In the campaign of Corinth, he conducted the turning movement against the Confederate communications. During the remainder of the campaign of 1862-63, he was stationed at Memphis, being assigned in December to the command of the XVI Army Corps. In the Vicksburg campaign of 1863, his mission was to assure the safety of Memphis as the base of operation. In July 1863, he sought to resign on personal grounds, but a month later withdrew his resignation. He took part in Sherman's raid toward Mobile in February 1864. On August 5 of that year he was ordered to report to General Canby in the division of West Mississippi for assignment to duty. Assigned to command the Department of the Gulf, to Lincoln's distress he harassed the loyal government of Louisiana.
Charges of corruption brought against him apparently had solid foundation. He was mustered out June 20, 1865. Upon his return to civil life, he became a Republican leader in Illinois. Charges of drunkenness and corruption leveled at him thereafter apparently had much reason. He served in the Illinois General Assembly of 1867 and was elector at large in 1868. He was the first commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, 1866-68. Appointed minister to Colombia in 1869, he served until 1872, apparently with little activity not of the routine order. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1870, but in 1872 tried again with success. He was reelected for the next Congress over J. F. Farnsworth, but in 1876 was defeated for the regular renomination by William Lathrop, and, running as an independent Republican, was defeated in the election.
Beyond some interest in interstate commerce regulation his congressional service was not remarkable. Appointed minister to Peru in 1881, at the time of the War of the Pacific, he showed himself an ardent partisan of Peru, making mistakes which seriously embarrassed Trescot in his special mission to the belligerent nations. After Hurlbut's death, which occurred at Lima, a House committee exonerated him of the charge of using his official position to aid the Crédit Industriel, claimant of guano and nitrate rights in Peru, against rival interests.