Blunt, James G., soldier, was born in Hancock county, Me., July 21, 1826, and passed his life until the fourteenth year upon his father's farm. His restless disposition then led him to run away from home, and for four years he followed the vocation of sailor upon the high seas, visiting ports in many parts of the world. In 1845 he gave up the sea to take up the study of medicine and on Feb. 20, 1849, he was graduated at the Sterling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio. The following January he located at New Madison, Ohio, where he practiced his profession until late in 1856, when he removed to Kansas and settled in Anderson county. He quickly became an ardent free-state man and when the Civil war broke out in 1861 he enlisted as a private in the Third Kansas regiment, subsequently being promoted to lieutenant-colonel. He served under Gen. Lane at the battle of Dry Wood and then commanded a force that penetrated far into the Indian country and broke up the band of the notorious Mathews, killing the leader. In April, 1862, he was commissioned a brigadier-general and placed in command of the Department of Kansas. At once he began active operations in Missouri and Arkansas, distinguishing himself for bravery and military skill in the battles of Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, Boston Mountains, Fort Van Buren, Honey Springs and Newtonia. After the war he settled in Leavenworth and engaged in business, spending a large part of his time in Washington, D. C. About 1878 symptoms of softening of the brain appeared and he was taken to an insane asylum in Washington, where he died on Aug. 3, 1881. Gen. Blunt was not a brilliant man, but he won and retained the confidence of the men under his command and rendered Kansas important service as a soldier. His death was sincerely mourned by his surviving comrades.