BLUNT, James G., soldier, born in Hancock County, Maine, in 1826; died in Washington, District of Columbia, in 1881. From his fifteenth to his twentieth year he was a sailor. He was graduated at the Starling medical College, Columbus, Ohio, in 1849, and practiced medicine in Darke County until 1856, when he settled in Anderson County, Kansas. He took a prominent part in the contest over the introduction of slavery into Kansas, and was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of the state. In July 1861, he entered the army as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 3d Kansas volunteers. He commanded the cavalry in General James Lane's brigade, and on 8 April 1862, was promoted Brigadier-General and assigned to the command of the military department of Kansas. On 22 October 1862, in the battle of Old Fort Wayne, his Kansas and Cherokee troops routed the confederate force concentrated at Maysville, on the western border of Arkansas. On 28 November he attacked and defeated Marmaduke's forces at Cane Hill, Ark. On 7 December 1862, he encountered and defeated, with the aid of General Herron, the confederates under Hindman at Prairie Grove, and thereby checked the advance of the southern troops into Missouri. On 28 December he captured Fort Van Buren on Arkansas river. He was promoted to be Major-General, 26 November 1862. In June 1863, being relieved of the command of the department of Kansas, he took the field with the army of the frontier. On 16 July 1863, he defeated General Cooper at Honey Springs; and on 28 October 1864, at Newtonia, No., with the assistance of General Sanborn's cavalry, his troops gave the final blow to Price's invasion of Missouri. During the latter part of the war he was military commandant of the district of south Kansas. After he was mustered out he settled in Leavenworth, Kansas.