Samuel Bunch

{{Infobox Officeholder

|name = Samuel Bunch

|image =

|order =

|district = 2nd

|state = Tennessee

|term_start = March 4, 1833

|term_end = March 3, 1837

|lieutenant =

|predecessor = Thomas Dickens Arnold

|successor = Abraham McClellan

|party = Whig

|birth_date = December 4, 1786

|birth_place = Grainger County, Tennessee

|death_date = September 5, 1849 (aged 63)

|death_place = Rutledge, Tennessee

|resting_place = Bunch Family Farm, Rutledge, Tennessee

|spouse = Amanda Anderson Bunch

|children =

|alma_mater =

|profession = farmer, soldier

|religion =

|serviceyears = 1813–1814

|rank = 25px Captain

|branch = Tennessee militia

|commands =

|battles = Creek War

}}

Samuel Bunch (December 4, 1786 – September 5, 1849) was an American politician who represented Tennessee's 2nd district in the United States House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837.

Life and career

Bunch was born in what is now Grainger County, Tennessee, the son of John and Mary (Asher) Bunch. He attended the public schools and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He married Amanda Anderson, daughter of Joseph M. and Mary Cocke Anderson about 1806 in Granger County.{{cite web|title=Richardson and Kimminau Family History and Ancestry|url=http://www.englishlass.com/p69.htm|publisher=2001-2012|author=S. Kimminau.|accessdate=25 February 2013}} Bunch was a slaveowner.{{Citation|title=Congress slaveowners |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list/|newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 13, 2022 |access-date=July 7, 2022}}

Colonel Bunch originally commanded the 1st Regiment of Volunteer Mounted Riflemen of the Tennessee militia composed of three-month enlistees from October 1813 to January 1814.{{Cite web|url=https://sos.tn.gov/products/tsla/regimental-histories-tennessee-units-during-war-1812|title=Regimental Histories of Tennessee Units During the War of 1812 {{!}} Tennessee Secretary of State|website=sos.tn.gov|language=en|access-date=2018-04-22}} During his time of command, the unit was involved in numerous conflicts with the Creek Indians. At the Battle of Little Oakfuskie, Bunch and his men surrounded the Native American village at dawn and sprung an ambush that resulted in the killing of 60 Native Americans and the capture of over 200 more while taking no American casualties.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-NmAwAAQBAJ&q=samuel+bunch+war+of+1812&pg=PA100|title=Tennesseans at War, 1812–1815: Andrew Jackson, the Creek War, and the Battle of New Orleans|last=Kanon|first=Tom|date=2014-06-14|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=9780817318291|language=en}} On January 10, 1814, Bunch was granted command of the 2nd Regiment of Volunteer Mounted Riflemen and stayed in command until July 14, 1814.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tngenweb.org/campbell/military/w1812/Bunch-English.html|title=War of 1812 Bunch & English Muster Roll|last=Pratt|first=Suzanne M|website=www.tngenweb.org|access-date=2018-04-22}} Reports have indicated that multiple companies within Bunch's Regiment were dispatched from Fort Williams to serve under General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. During this engagement, Bunch's men were positioned on the right flank of the advancing force. Due to being under the command of General Jackson, Bunch was known to have written the future President as a friend even after the war.{{Cite news|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/maj.01054_0260_0261/?sp=1|title=Image 1 of Samuel Bunch to Andrew Jackson, September 23, 1819|work=The Library of Congress|access-date=2018-04-22|language=en}} He was sheriff of Grainger County for several years.{{cite web|title=Samuel Bunch|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B001058|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|accessdate=25 February 2013}} From 1819 to 1823, he represented Campbell, Claiborne, and Grainger counties in the Tennessee Senate.[http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/misc/tga-senate3.pdf Tennessee Senators] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528103310/http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/misc/tga-senate3.pdf |date=2014-05-28 }}, Tennessee State Library and Archives, 2010. Retrieved: 25 February 2013. In 1820, he voted against the bill establishing the Bank of Tennessee.Eric Russell Lacy, Vanquished Volunteers: East Tennessee Sectionalism from Statehood to Secession (East Tennessee State University Press, 1965), p. 67.

Samuel Bunch was elected to Congress in 1833, defeating former 2nd district representative John Cocke, 4,319 votes to 1,815 (the incumbent, Thomas D. Arnold, moved to the 1st district). He was reelected by a similar margin in 1835.[http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=233354 Candidate: Samuel Bunch], Our Campaigns. Retrieved: 25 February 2013. Bunch served as a Jacksonian in the Twenty-third Congress and as an Anti-Jacksonian in the Twenty-fourth Congress, and subsequently joined the Whig Party.{{cite web|title=Samuel Bunch|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/samuel_bunch/402005|publisher=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=24 February 2013}} In 1837, he was defeated in his reelection effort by the Democratic candidate, Abraham McClellan, 3,228 votes to 2,741.

His son, McDonough J. Bunch, was the principal clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives during 1845-46. He served as major of the 4th Regiment Tennessee Volunteers in the Mexican War. In May 1850, he led the skeleton Mississippi Regiment in the Narciso Lopez invasion of Cuba.

Samuel Bunch resumed agricultural pursuits and died on his farm near Rutledge, Tennessee on September 5, 1849 (age 62 years, 275 days). He is interred at a private cemetery on his farm.