American politician
Col. Peter A. Porter
|
---|
|
|
|
In office
January 1, 1862 ? December 31, 1862
|
Preceded by
| Oliver P. Scovell
|
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Succeeded by
| William Morgan
|
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|
|
Born
| Peter Augustus Porter
(
1827-07-14
)
July 14, 1827
Black Rock, New York
, US
|
---|
Died
| June 3, 1864
(1864-06-03)
(aged 36)
Cold Harbor, Virginia
, US
|
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Resting place
| Oakwood Cemetery
Niagara Falls, New York
|
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Political party
| War Democrat
|
---|
Spouses
|
Mary Cabell Breckinridge
(
m.
1852; died 1854)
Josephine Matilda Morris
(
m.
)
|
---|
Relations
| See
Breckinridge family
|
---|
Children
| 3, including
Peter
|
---|
Parent(s)
| Peter Buell Porter
Letitia Breckinridge
|
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Alma mater
| Harvard College
Harvard Law School
|
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Profession
| Lawyer, politician, soldier
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|
Branch/service
| 8th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment
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Years of service
| 1862?1864
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Rank
| Colonel
|
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Battles/wars
| U.S. Civil War
•
Battle of Spotsylvania
•
Battle of Cold Harbor
|
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|
Peter Augustus Porter
(July 14, 1827 ? June 3, 1864) was a lawyer, politician, and member of the
Breckinridge family
and a
Union Army
colonel
in the
American Civil War
. He died in the
Battle of Cold Harbor
.
[1]
Early life
[
edit
]
Porter was born on July 14, 1827, in
Black Rock, New York
, the only son of
Yale
lawyer
Peter Buell Porter
, a military leader in the
War of 1812
and
United States Secretary of War
from 1828 to 1829, and Letitia Breckinridge. Before his parents marriage, his mother was a widow as her first husband, whom she married in 1804, Alfred William Grayson, had died in 1810. Grayson, a graduate of
Cambridge University
, was the son of Senator
William Grayson
of Virginia. Through his mother's first marriage, Porter had a half-brother,
John Breckinridge Grayson
(1806?1862).
[2]
Porter graduated from
Harvard
, studied at Heidelberg and Berlin, and graduated from
Harvard Law School
in 1857. He also authored plays, poems, and essays.
[1]
Family
[
edit
]
His maternal grandfather was
John Breckinridge
(1760?1806),
[3]
a
U.S. Senator
from Kentucky from 1801 to 1805, and
Attorney General of the United States
under
Jefferson
from 1805 to 1806.
[4]
His maternal grandmother was Mary Hopkins Cabell, of the
Cabell political family
.
[3]
His maternal uncles were
Cabell Breckinridge
(1788?1823), Rev. Dr. John Breckinridge (1797?1841),
Robert Jefferson Breckinridge
(1800?1871), and Rev. Dr. William Lewis Breckinridge (1803?1876).
[2]
His first cousin was
John C. Breckinridge
(1821?1875), the youngest-ever
Vice President of the United States
, serving from 1857 until 1861, under President
James Buchanan
.
[5]
His paternal grandfather was Col.
Joshua Porter
(1730?1825), a
Yale College
graduate, who fought in the
Revolutionary War
. He was at the head of his regiment in October 1777 when
John Burgoyne
surrendered his 6,000 men after the
Battles of Saratoga
. After the war, his grandfather was elected to various official positions for forty-eight consecutive years.
[1]
Career
[
edit
]
In 1862, Porter was elected as a
War Democrat
, or Union, member of the
New York State Assembly
to represent
Niagara Co.
's 2nd District, and served in
85th New York State Legislature
.
[1]
Civil War
[
edit
]
On October 21, 1861, his half-brother,
John
, then a
Confederate
brigadier general
, died of
pneumonia
and
tuberculosis
, only three months after joining the Confederate Army.
[6]
On July 7, 1862, he offered his services to
Gov.
Edwin D. Morgan
and was appointed
Colonel
, in the
Union Army
, of the 129th New York State Volunteers.
[7]
The regiment was reformed into the
8th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment
on December 19, 1862.
[8]
His regiment, under Brig. Gen.
Robert O. Tyler
, was of a unit that manned the forts around
Washington, D.C.
, and participated in parades used to increase morale in the city in the time of war. However, they were also trained to be used as infantry if necessary.
[9]
His reason for enlisting was reported in his
eulogy
printed in
The New York Times
,
[1]
where Porter was purported to have said:
In order to secure success, the gentlemen, the educated and influential men of the North must join the service, and discipline, educate and lead its armies; that it would not be wise to entrust their unprincipled lawyer, or that ignorant mechanic with a military command, subordinate or otherwise, merely because he possessed a degree of neighborhood notoriety and popularity; on the contrary that it would be cruel toward our soldiers and fatal to our cause to act thus.
[1]
On September 5, 1863, Porter was nominated for
New York Secretary of State
but declined, saying that his neighbors had entrusted him with the lives of their sons and he could not leave them while the war lasted.
[7]
In May 1864, Porter's unit, like many Heavy Artillery regiments, was ordered by Grant (a distant cousin, though both likely did not know that) to join the Army of the Potomac then fighting in the overland campaign.
[10]
In May 1864, during a lull in the
Battle of Spotsylvania
, a rebel soldier fired several shots at Porter while disguised by a tree. His men saw faint white smoke from the tree and six men shot at the tree, shooting the soldier. The soldier turned out to be a Confederate Captain who had been a prisoner at
Fort McHenry
while Porter commanded it and few days earlier had been paroled, but not exchanged. The soldier was badly wounded but stated that he had fired three times at Porter and hoped "to bring him down the next time," adding that "if I had killed him [Porter] I should die satisfied." Porter reportedly restrained his men from attacking the culprit with their bayonets.
[1]
Battle of Cold Harbor
[
edit
]
On June 3, 1864, during the
Battle of Cold Harbor
in Virginia, Brig. Gen.
Tyler
, who Porter's regiment reported to, was wounded. Tyler requested Porter take command of the brigade.
[1]
Porter then led the charge, advancing a short distance until he was shot through the neck. As reported in his eulogy, Porter "immediately rose and advanced again, but had moved only a few paces forward when he fell to rise no more".
[1]
The following night, five of his men, Sgt.
Le Roy Williams
, Galen S. Hicks, John Duff, Walter Harwood, Samuel Travis and John Heany, brought Porter's body, with six bullets still in him, through a rain storm back to the Union side. For his participation in recovering Col. Porter's body, Sgt. Williams was later awarded the
Medal of Honor
. Porter was first taken to
Baltimore, Maryland
, met by a military escort and then taken to the
St. Peter's Episcopal Church
, and there placed in the chancel draped in the flag of his country. Chaplain
Gilbert De La Matyr
accompanied Porter's body back to
Niagara Falls
.
[9]
Personal life
[
edit
]
In 1852, Porter married his first cousin, Mary Cabell Breckinridge (1826?1854), daughter of Rev. John Breckinridge (1797?1841), his mother's brother. His father-in-law was a Presbyterian Minister who graduated from
Princeton College
in 1818 and
Princeton Theological Seminary
in 1821 and served as
Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives
. Mary's maternal great-grandfather was
Samuel Stanhope Smith
, president of
Princeton University
from 1795 to 1812.
[2]
Before Mary's death in 1854 in the
cholera epidemic
, they had one son:
On November 9, 1859, Porter married Josephine Matilda Morris (1831?1892),
[11]
[12]
a daughter of George Washington Morris (1799?1834), cousin of
Charles Manigault Morris
(1820?1895), and granddaughter of Lewis Morris (1754?1824) and great-granddaughter of
Lewis Morris
(1726?1798) of
Morrisania
.
[13]
Josephine was born at
Grove Plantation
in South Carolina, but her father was born at the family seat, Morrisania, in
Westchester County, New York
. When her father died in 1834, Josephine was only three years old and her mother Maria Whaley Morris took over management of the plantation until Josephine's brother, George Washington Morris, Jr., took it over. George Jr. ran up huge debts and after his death in 1857, the house and 124 of the 136 slaves the family owned were auctioned in
Charleston
in January 1858. In November of the following year, Peter and Josephine were married, and moved a brand new house in Niagara Falls along with Porter's sister, Elizabeth Porter.
[13]
Together, they were the parents of two children:
Porter's funeral was held at
St. Peter's Episcopal Church
, where he used to attend services when he lived in that city, led by Reverend Dr. Shelton, an Episcopal minister and the same that had given the same last rites to his father, his mother, and his wife. Following the funeral services at the church, his remains were carried to his final resting place in
Oakwood Cemetery
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Notes
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
"THE LATE COL. PORTER.; Funeral of Col. P.A. Porter Sketch of his Life and Character"
.
The New York Times
. 18 June 1864
. Retrieved
21 October
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
The Cabells and their kin: A ... ? Alexander Brown ? Google Books
. Books.google.com (July 19, 2007). Retrieved on October 19, 2011.
- ^
a
b
BRECKINRIDGE, John ? Biographical Information
. Bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved on October 19, 2011.
- ^
Index to Politicians: Breckinridge
. The Political Graveyard. Retrieved on October 19, 2011.
- ^
"THE REBELLION"
.
The New York Times
. 9 June 1864
. Retrieved
21 October
2016
.
- ^
John H. Eicher and John Y. Simons'
Civil War High Commands
(2001) pg. 265
- ^
a
b
"Obituary.; COL. PETER A. PORTER"
.
The New York Times
. 5 June 1864
. Retrieved
21 October
2016
.
- ^
Fox, William Freeman.
Losses of the Eighth New-York Heavy Artillery, 2d Brigade, 2d Division, 2d Corps: August 22, 1862 ? June 5, 1865
(New York: s.n.), 1887.
- ^
a
b
Cozzens, Frederic S.
Colonel Peter A. Porter: A Memorial Delivered Before the Century in December, 1864
(New York: D. Van Nostrand), 1865.
- ^
Dunn, Wilbur Russell.
Full Measure of Devotion: The Eighth New York Volunteer Heavy Artillery
(Kearney, NE: Morris Pub.), 1997.
ISBN
1-5750-2656-2
- ^
"Obituary 2 ? PORTER"
.
The New York Times
. April 1, 1907
. Retrieved
9 May
2017
.
- ^
"Obituary 1 ? PORTER"
.
The New York Times
. 13 May 1892
. Retrieved
9 May
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Site of the Home of Peter A. Porter, Elizabeth Porter, and Josephine Porter1"
(PDF)
.
niagarafallsundergroundrailroad.org
. Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Area Commission
. Retrieved
9 May
2017
.
- ^
University of Michigan Alumni Association (1910).
The Michigan Alumnus
. UM Libraries
. Retrieved
9 May
2017
.
Sources
External links
[
edit
]