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shipman, Feb. 2, 1829. He was attached to the coast survey from 1836 to 1840. Then he cruised in Brazilian waters, and served in the Naval Observatory at Washington for a while. He engaged in the war against Mexico on land and on water, and in 1861 joined the Gulf Squadron, in command of the Powhatan. He was in the expedition up the Mississippi against New Orleans in 1862, in command of twentyone mortar-boats and several steamers. Porter did important service on the Mississippi and Red rivers in 1863-64, and was conspicuous in the siege of Vicksburg. For the latter service he was promoted rear-admiral, July 4, 1863. In 1864 he was in command of the North Atlantic blockading squadron, and rendered efficient service in the capture of Fort Fisher in January, 1865. He was made vice-admiral in July, 1866; admiral, Oct. 17, 1870; and was superintendent of the Naval Academy from 1866 to 1870. He died in Washington, D. C., Feb. 13, 1891.

Porter, FITZ-JOHN, military officer; born in Portsmouth, N. H., June 13, 1822; a cousin of David Dixon Porter; graduated at West Point in 1845, entering the artillery corps. He was adjutant of that post in 1853-54, and assistant instructor of cavalry and artillery in 185455. In 1856 he was made assistant adjutant-general. In May, 1861, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers and chief of staff to Generals Patterson and Banks until August, when he was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, in

FITZ-JOHN PORTER.

command of a division. In May, 1862, he took command of the 5th Army Corps; directed the siege of Yorktown, Va., and was one of McClellan's most efficient commanders during the Peninsular campaign ending with the battle of MALVERN HILL (q. v.). For services in that campaign he was promoted to major-general of volunteers. Temporarily attached to the Army of Virginia (Pope's), and formal charges having been made against him, he was deprived of his command. At the request of General McClellan, he was restored, and accompanied that general in the campaign in Maryland. In November he was ordered to Washington for trial by court-martial, on charges preferred by General Pope, and on Jan. 21, 1863, he was cashiered for violation of the 9th and 52d Articles of War. In 1870 he appealed to the President for a reversal of this sentence, and in 1878 a commission of inquiry was instituted to determine whether there was new evidence in his favor sufficient to warrant ordering a new trial. He was finally in 1886 restored to his rank of colonel and retired. After leaving the army he was superintendent of the building of the New Jersey Asylum for the Insane; commissioner of public works and police commissioner in New York City; and was offered, but declined, the command of the Egyptian army. He died in Morristown, N. J., May 21, 1901. See GRANT, ULYSSES SIMPSON; LOGAN, JOHN ALEXANDER; POPE, JOHN.

Porter, HORACE, diplomatist, born in Huntington, Pa., April 15, 1837; graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1860; served with distinction through the Civil War; brevetted brigadier-general in 1865; was private secretary to President Grant in 1869-77; and became ambassador to France in 1897. He is the author of Campaigning with Grant. Porter, JAMES MADISON, jurist; born in Selma, Pa., Jan. 6, 1793; served in the army during the War of 1812; afterwards studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1813. He was appointed Secretary of War by President Tyler, but the nomina tion was rejected by the Senate. He died in Easton, Pa., Nov. 11, 1862.

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Porter, MOSES, military officer; born in Danvers, Mass., in 1755; was in the battle of Bunker (Breed's) Hill, and many of

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PORTER

the prominent battles of the Revolution, for his skill and bravery, and received the and was one of the few old officers select- thanks of Congress and a gold medal. ed for the first peace establishment. In President Madison offered him the position 1791 he was promoted to captain, and

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served under Wayne in 1794. In March, 1812, he was colonel of light artillery, and was distinguished at the capture of Fort George, in May, 1813. He accompanied Wilkinson's army on the St. Lawrence, and in the autumn of 1814 was brevetted brigadier - general, and ordered to the defence of Norfolk, Va. He died in Cambridge, April 14, 1822.

Porter, NOAH, educator; born in Farmington, Conn., Dec. 14, 1811; graduated at Yale College in 1831; Professor of Mathematics and Moral Philosophy in Yale College in 1846-71; and president of the same in 1871-86. His publications include Historical Discourse at Farmington, Nov. 4, 1840; The Educational System of the Puritans and Jesuits Compared; American Colleges and the American Public, etc. He died in New Haven, Conn., March 4, 1892.

Porter, PETER BUEL, military officer; born in Salisbury, Conn., Aug. 4, 1773; studied law, and began practice at Canandaigua, N. Y., in 1795; was a member of Congress from 1809 to 1813, and again in 1815-16. He settled at Black Rock, near

PETER BUEL PORTER.

of commander-in-chief of the army in 1815, which he declined. He was secretary of state of New York (1815-16), and was Secretary of War, under President John Quincy Adams, in 1828. General Porter

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Buffalo, where he and his brothers made was one of the early projectors of the large purchases of land along the Niagara Erie Canal, and one of the first board of River. A leader of volunteers on the commissioners. He died at Niagara Falls, Niagara frontier, he became distinguished March 20, 1844.

Porter, ROBERT P., journalist; born in brigade of General Logan's division of the Markham Hall, England, June 30, 1852; advance of McPherson's corps, and others received a common school education, and were sent to help McClernand. Late in the came to the United States early in life. afternoon the Confederates were repulsed He became connected with the Chicago and pursued to Port Gibson. Night ended Inter-Ocean in 1872; was a member of the the conflict, and under its cover the Contariff commission in 1882; later estab- federates fled across a bayou, burning the lished the New York Press; was superin- bridges behind them, and retreated towtendent of the eleventh census, in 1889-93; ards Vicksburg. The Nationals lost in and special United States commissioner this battle 840 men, of whom 130 were to Cuba and Porto Rico in 1898-99. He killed. They captured guns and flags and is the author of The West in 1880; Life 580 prisoners. of William McKinley; Municipal Ownership at Home and Abroad; and Industrial Cuba.

Porter, WILLIAM DAVID, naval officer; born in New Orleans, La., March 10, 1809; a son of David Porter; entered the navy in 1823. In the sloop-of-war St. Mary, on the Pacific Station, when. the Civil War broke out, he was wrongly suspected of disloyalty. He was ordered to duty on the Mississippi River, in fitting out a gunboat fleet, and was put in command of the Essex, which took part in the attacks on Forts Henry and Donelson, when he was severely scalded. He fought his way past all the batteries between Cairo and New Orleans, taking part in the attack on Vicksburg. He caused the destruction of the Confederate ram Arkansas, near Baton Rouge, and assisted in the attack on Port Hudson. For these services he was made commodore in July, 1862. His feeble health prevented his doing much afterwards. He died in New York City, May 1, 1864.

Port Gibson, BATTLE AT. Grant crossed the Mississippi at Bruinsburg on the gunboats and transports which had run by Grand Gulf in 1863. His troops consisted chiefly of General McClernand's 13th Army Corps. These troops pushed forward and were met (May 1), 8 miles from Bruinsburg, by a Confederate force, which was pushed back to a point 4 miles from Port Gibson. There McClernand was confronted by a strong force from Vicksburg, under General Bowen, advantageously posted. The Nationals were divided for the occasion. On McClernand's right were the divisions of Generals Hovey, Carr, and Smith, and on his left that of Osterhaus. The former pressed the Confederates steadily back to Port Gibson. The troops of Osterhaus were reinforced by a

Port Hudson, CAPTURE OF. Port Hudson, or Hickey's Landing, was on a high bluff on the left bank of the Mississippi, in Louisiana, at a very sharp bend in the stream. At the foot of the bluff was Hickey's Landing. The Confederates had erected a series of batteries, extending along the river from Port Hudson to Thompson's Creek above, a distance of about 3 miles. They were arned with very heavy guns. They were field batteries that might be moved to any part of the line. Immediately after Banks took command of the Department of the Gulf (Dec. 18, 1862), he determined to attempt to remove this obstruction to the navigation of the Mississippi. He sent General Grover with 10,000 men to occupy Baton Rouge, but the advance on Port Hudson was delayed, because it would require a larger force than Banks could then spare. he operated for a while among the rich sugar and cotton regions of Louisiana, west of the river.

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In March, 1863, he concentrated his forces-nearly 25,000 strong-at Baton Rouge. At the same time Commodore Farragut had gathered a small fleet at a point below Port Hudson, with a determination to run by the batteries there and recover the control of the river between that place and Vicksburg. To make this movement, Banks sent towards Port Hudson (March 13) 12,000 men, who drove in the pickets, while two gunboats and some mortar-boats bombarded the works. That night Farragut attempted to pass, but failed, and Banks returned to Baton Rouge. After more operations in Louisiana, Banks returned to the Mississippi and began the investment of Port Hudson, May 24, 1863. His troops were commanded by Generals Weitzel, Auger. Grover, Dwight, and T. W. Sherman, and the beleaguered garrison

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