James Ezekiel Porter

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James Ezekiel Porter
7th U.S. Cavalry
Battles/warsAmerican Indian Wars
  • Battle of Little Big Horn

James Ezekiel Porter (February 2, 1847 – June 25, 1876) was one of

Reconstruction Era,[4] where, according to a comrade, he respectably served "Ku Klux" duty[5] while the 7th Cavalry was charged with eradicating the Ku Klux Klan and illegal distilling.[6][7][8][9]

Early life and education

James Ezekiel Porter was born in

West Point by U.S. Representative Sidney Perham,[12] and Porter graduated in 1869, ranked 16th in a class of 39.[13] Porter and the other officers of the 7th Cavalry "in the nineteenth century...often came from cultured backgrounds."[14] Most officers in the Seventh Cavalry were educated at "civilian colleges" or the "prestigious Military Academy at West Point" and were part of a "stratified class system existing between commissioned and enlisted status."[15]

Military career

He received a commission as a second lieutenant in the

Reconstruction Era when Porter served in various cities between 1871 and 1873, including Chester, South Carolina, Rutherfordton, North Carolina, Lincolnton, North Carolina and then Shelbyville, Lebanon and Louisville, Kentucky while the 7th was charged with suppressing the Ku Klux Klan.[18][19][20][21][22] For his efforts in serving "Ku Klux" duty, Porter was recognized by a comrade for his "energy and discretion [which] formed a combination sufficiently rare and valuable to give him a name among his fellows."[23] In 1872, Porter became a 1st lieutenant and was assigned to Troop I.[24] He was eventually sent back to Fort Abraham Lincoln and Fort Totten in Dakota.[25] He served in the Northern Boundary Survey in 1873 and 1874 being based in Minnesota.[26] Prior to the Battle at Little Bighorn in June 1876, Porter "had requested a transfer to the general staff for a more settled life" because "his wife had just given birth to their second child in March" and "the couple had moved fourteen times."[27] When Captain Myles Keogh returned to Ireland in 1874, Porter took command of Company I.[28]

Death at the Little Bighorn and unidentified body

On June 25, 1876, James Porter was likely killed by the

Henry M. Harrington)[39][40] never identified, even though his death was verified by his bloody jacket, which was identified.[41][42][43][44][45] The three missing officers were the only West Point graduates on the field besides Custer and Lt. Hodgson.[46] After receiving pressure from the officers' families, General Philip Sheridan gave special orders to his brother Lt. Colonel Michael Sheridan to locate and properly bury the twelve officers' bodies to the extent they could be located.[47] According to Nunnally's history, "[i]n 1910 Superintendent Wright set a stone marker for Lt. Porter whose body was never found. Wright had no evidence on the location of Porter's death and simply chose a random spot for its location."[48]

Legacy and family

Remains of Battery Porter at Fort Hunt in Virginia. The battery was named in Porter's honor in 1903.

Porter left a wife, Eliza Frances Westcott, originally from

Congregational church in Strong, Maine.[53] A coast artillery battery at Fort Hunt in Virginia was named in Porter's honor in 1903,[54] and the James E. Porter Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Weld, Maine in Porter's home county was named in his honor as well.[55] One of Porter's personal Smith & Wesson revolvers that he carried while on duty is in the collections at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.[56] James E. Porter was featured as a character in Donald F. Myers' novel entitled Custer's Gatling Guns: What If He Had Taken His Machine Guns to the Little Bighorn?[57] and also in Frederick J. Chiaventone's A Road We Do Not Know: A Novel of Custer at Little Bighorn[58] and Romain Wilhelmsen's The Curse of Destiny: The Betrayal of General George Armstrong ...[59]

References

  1. ^ Jerry L. Russell, 1876 Facts About Custer & the Battle of the Little Big-Horn, (Da Capo Press, Oct 21, 1999) pg. 208
  2. ^ Thomas Hatch, Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (McFarland & Co., 1997) Page 95
  3. ^ Charles Kuhlman, Legend into History (Old Army Press, 1977) pg. 196,
  4. ^ Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S ..., Volume 3 By George Washington Cullum, United States Military Academy. Association of Graduates, (Houghton, Mifflin, 1891) pg. 133
  5. ^ "Annual Reunion of the United States Military Academy in 1877" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2013-01-29.
  6. ^ Duane Schultz, Custer: Lessons in Leadership (Macmillan, 2010), pg. 146
  7. ^ The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890, (2011) pg. 144
  8. ^ James Michael Martinez, Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 126, 127, 139, 145
  9. ^ Mark S. Weiner, Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste (Random House, 2007), pg. 198
  10. ^ A Genealogy of the Descendants of Richard Porter, who Settled at Weymouth, Mass., 1635, and Allied Families: Also, Some Account of the Descendants of John Porter, who Settled at Hingham, Mass., 1635, and Salem (Danvers) Mass., 1644 (Google eBook), (Burr & Robinson, 1878) pg. 191
  11. ^ Ellis, William Arba, Norwich University 1819-1911: Her History, Her Graduates, Her Roll of Honor, Capital City Press, Montpelier, VT: 1911
  12. ^ Edward Payson Weston, The Northern Monthly: A Magazine of Original Literature and ..., Volume 1, September 1864, pg. 490
  13. ^ Thom Hatch, The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong Custer and the Plains Indian Wars, (Stackpole Books, 2002) pg. 212
  14. ^ Jerome A. Greene, Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 (University of Oklahoma Press, Apr 30, 2008), pg. 20-21
  15. ^ Jerome A. Greene, Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 (University of Oklahoma Press, Apr 30, 2008), pg. 20-21
  16. ^ Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S ..., Volume 3 By George Washington Cullum, United States Military Academy. Association of Graduates, (Houghton, Mifflin, 1891) pg. 133
  17. ^ "Annual Reunion of the United States Military Academy in 1877" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2013-01-29.
  18. ^ Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S ..., Volume 3 By George Washington Cullum, United States Military Academy. Association of Graduates, (Houghton, Mifflin, 1891) pg. 133
  19. ^ Duane Schultz, Custer: Lessons in Leadership (Macmillan, 2010), pg. 146
  20. ^ The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890, (2011) pg. 144
  21. ^ James Michael Martinez, Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 126, 127, 139, 145
  22. ^ Mark S. Weiner, Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste (Random House, 2007), pg. 198
  23. ^ "Annual Reunion of the United States Military Academy in 1877" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2013-01-29.
  24. ^ Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S ..., Volume 3 By George Washington Cullum, United States Military Academy. Association of Graduates, (Houghton, Mifflin, 1891) pg. 133
  25. ^ Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S ..., Volume 3 By George Washington Cullum, United States Military Academy. Association of Graduates, (Houghton, Mifflin, 1891) pg. 133
  26. ^ Thom Hatch, The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong Custer and the Plains Indian Wars, (Stackpole Books, 2002) pg. 212
  27. ^ James Donovan, A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of ... (Little, Brown, & Co., 2008)
  28. ^ Tony Rees, Arc of the Medicine Line: Mapping the World's Longest Undefended Border, (U of Nebraska Press), 2007, pg. 253
  29. ^ Thom Hatch, Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (McFarland & Co., 1997), pg. 95
  30. ^ James S. Brust, Brian C. Pohanka, Sandy Barnard, Where Custer Fell: Photographs of the Little Bighorn Battlefield (University of Oklahoma, 2007), pg. 103
  31. ^ Charles Kuhlman, Legend into History (Old Army Press, 1977) pg. 196,
  32. ^ Thomas Hatch, Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (McFarland & Co., 1997) Page 95
  33. ^ Douglas D. Scott, Richard A. Fox, Melissa A. Connor, Dick Harmon, Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, (University of Oklahoma Press, Sep 1, 2000), pg. 125
  34. ^ James Donovan, A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West (Little, Brown, & Co., 2008) referencing a letter (McGillycuddy to E. A. Brininstool, June 1, 1931, Brininstool Collection)
  35. ^ Captain Charles King, "CUSTER'S LAST BATTLE," Harper's New Monthly Magazine 81, (Aug. 1890), pg. 386
  36. ^ Jerry L. Russell, 1876 Facts About Custer & the Battle of the Little Big-Horn, (Da Capo Press, Oct 21, 1999) pg. 208
  37. ^ Douglas D. Scott, P. Willey, Melissa A. Connor, They Died With Custer: Soldiers' Bones from the Battle of the Little Bighorn, (University of Oklahoma Press, Sep 1, 2002) Table 11 pg. 109-110
  38. ^ Where Custer Fell: Photographs of the Little Bighorn Battlefield Then and Now By James S. Brust, Brian C. Pohanka, Sandy Barnard (University of Oklahoma Press, Mar 30, 2007), pg. 103
  39. ^ Douglas D. Scott, P. Willey, Melissa A. Connor, They Died With Custer: Soldiers' Bones from the Battle of the Little Bighorn, (University of Oklahoma Press, Sep 1, 2002), pg. 170
  40. ^ Jerome A. Greene, Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 (University of Oklahoma Press, Apr 30, 2008), pg. 20, 23, 40
  41. ^ Douglas D. Scott, Richard A. Fox, Melissa A. Connor, Dick Harmon, Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, (University of Oklahoma Press, Sep 1, 2000) 49-50, 245-46
  42. ^ Thom Hatch, The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong Custer and the Plains Indian Wars, (Stackpole Books, 2002) pg. 212
  43. ^ "From Custer's Last Stand: Archaeologists Seek Bodies From Little Bighorn", By James S. Brust, Brian C. Pohanka, Sandy Barnard (University of Oklahoma Press, Mar 30, 2007), pg. 103
  44. ^ Observer-Reporter - Apr 16, 1984, Washington, PA, pg. A8
  45. ^ Paul L. Hedren, After Custer: Loss and Transformation in Sioux Country, (University of Oklahoma Press, 2012) pg. 181
  46. ^ James S. Robbins, Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point (Encounter Books, 2006), pg. 382
  47. ^ Jerome A. Greene, Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 (University of Oklahoma Press, Apr 30, 2008), pg. 21
  48. ^ Early History of the Custer Battlefield and Park Superintendents, 1893 – 1958 by Michael L. Nunnally
  49. ^ Brian C. Pohanka, 'Born a Soldier': Myles Walter Keogh Archived 2013-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, Part 3 of 3: Riding With Custer Into Eternity
  50. ^ Congressional serial set By United States, July 29, 1882, 47th Congress 1st Session, Report, No. 865, HR 6624 (Government Printing Office)
  51. ^ James Ezekiel Porter at Find a Grave
  52. ^ Big Horn Yellowstone journal - Volumes 1-3 (Powder River Press, 1992)
  53. ^ Big Horn Yellowstone Journal, Volumes 1-3 (Powder River Press, 1992)
  54. ^ Elihu Root, Elihu Root collection of United States documents: Ser. A.-F.] General Orders, No. 78 (U.S., 1903), pg. 6)
  55. ^ The Maine Bugle, Volumes 2-3, (1895) pg. 158
  56. ^ Douglas C. McChristian, John P. Langellier, The U.s. Army in the West, 1870-1880: Uniforms, Weapons, And Equipment (University of Oklahoma Press, 2006) pg. 284
  57. ^ Donald F. Myers, Custer's Gatling Guns: What If He Had Taken His Machine Guns to the Little Bighorn? (CCB Publishing, 2008), pp. 27, 87-89
  58. ^ Frederick J. Chiaventone, A Road We Do Not Know: A Novel of Custer at Little Bighorn (2002), pg. 140
  59. ^ Romain Wilhelmsen, The Curse of Destiny: The Betrayal of General George Armstrong (2000) pg. 210

Further reading

  • "Lieut. Porter and his family of Strong, Franklin County, Maine / a monograph by Andrew J. Johnston." (1992)

External links

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