PORTER. 265 PORTER. gagement led to his trial by court-martial on the charge of disobeying the orders ot General Pope. He was found guilty and was cashiered and disqualified from holding any position of trust or profit under the United IStates Govern- ment. Tlie justice of the punishment was a sub- ject of mucli controversy, and numerous attempts were made lo secure a reversal of the verdict. In June, 1878, a board of officers convened at West Point, by order of the President, to ex- amine the evidence and to consider the findings of the court-martial, and to report to the Secretary of War what action, in their judgment, justice required should be taken by the President. This board, after a full examination of the case, includ- ing evidence before inaccessible, and other evi- dence before misunderstood, reported that, in the opinion of those forming it, justice required at the hands of the President of the United States "such action as may be necessary to annul and set a.side the findings and sentence of the court- martial in the ease of Major-General Fitz John Porter, and to restore him to the position of which that sentence deprived him — such restora- tion to take effect from the date of his dismissal from office." This report was signed by the entii'e board, including Major-General J. 51. Schofield, Brigadier-General Alfred H. Terry, and Brevet Major-General George W'. Getty. The report was hiid before the House Committee on Military Af- fairs, and a majority of the committee, in .Janu- ary, 1881, reported a bill restoring him to his rank of major-general in the United States army, and re(|niring the Secretary of the Treasury to pay to him the sum of $75,000. The bill for his relief failed to pass, but President Arthur in 18S2 remitted the disqualifj'ing clause in his sentence. In 1886 a bill for his restoration to the army with the rank of colonel, but without liack pay, was passed and approved Ijy the Presi- dent, and soon afterwards General Porter was re- tired. After his return from the army General Porter engaged in business in New York City, where he afterwards held several municipal ofiices. among them that of Police Commissioner and Commis- sioner of the Fire Department. Until his death he considered that he had been deeply wronged. The controversy regarding his treatment pro- voked a mass of partisan articles and ot reviews of the evidence of the case, but no adequate biog- raphy has yet appeared. For perhaps the strong- est statement of the case against Porter, consult Cox, The Second Battle of Bull Run as Connected n-rith the Fitz John Porter Case (Cincinnati, 1SS2) ; for a brief statement of the case in his favor, consult an article by General U. S. Grant in vol. cxxxv. of the yorth American Review. PORTER, HoR.cE (18.37— 1. An American soldier and diplomat, son of David Rittenhouse Porter and grandson of Andrew Porter. He was born at Huntingdon. Pa.: studied for a year at the Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard, then entered West Point, where he graduated in 1800, and a year later was commissioned first lieutenant and detailed for duty as ordnance offi- cer of the Port Royal Expeditionary Corps. At the reduction of Fort Pulaski, Ga. (April 10-11, lSfi2). he was the chief of ordnance and artil- lery, and by his gallantry earned the brevet rank of captain. In the attack on Secessionville. S. C. (June 16, 1862), he was wounded, but was able to act as chief of ordnance in tlie transfer of llie Army of the Potomac from Harrison's Landing, Va., to Maryland, after the Peninsular campaign of 18ti2. He was then assigned to duty in the West and participated in the Tennessee campaign (.June 24-Xovember 1, 1863) , during which he fought at the battle of Chickamauga and took part in the defense of Chattanooga. On April 4, 18(i4, he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel and was assigned to the staff of General Grant, with whom he remained until .July 25, 1800, taking part in all the battles of the Richmond campaign until the surrender at A])pomattox Court House. On March 13, 1865, he received the brevet rank of brigadier-general in the Regu- lar Army. After the war, when Gieneral Grant was for a few months in 1807 Secretary of War, Porter became his assistant, and when Grant was elected to the Presidency Porter became his private secretary. In 1873 he resigned from the army to become vice-president of the Pullman Car Company, and during the following years he filled executive positions on several railroads. In 1897 President McKinley appointed him Am- bassador to France. General Porter became well known as an orator and as an author. His writings include West Point Life (1806) ; Cam- paiijninq irilh Grunt (1897); and the articles on "Five Forks and the Pursuit of Lee" and "The Surrender at Appomattox Court House," in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1887). PORTER, James (1753-98). An Irish clergy- man and author, the son of a poor farmer. He was born near Ballindrait, in the County of Donegal. Leaving his father's farm, he taught school, and later he studied for the Presbyterian ministry at Glasgow. In 1787 he was ordained minister at Greyabbey, in the County of Down. For the Belfast Xorthern Star, a newspaper founded by Samuel Neilson in the interests of the Society of United Irishmen, Porter wrote several patriotic songs (1704), republished as Paddy's Resource, and the famous seven letters by "A Presbyterian," reprinted as Billn Bluff and Squire Firebrand (1796). These brilliant satires eventually cost Porter his life. On the outl)reak of the rebellion in 1798 he was without fair trial convicted of treason and hanged. PORTER, James (1808-88). A minister of the ilethodist Episcopal Church. He was born at iliddlcborough. Mass., and joined the New England Conference in 1830. He was elected as one of the agents of the Methodist Book Con- cern in 1856, and reelecteil in 1860 and 1864; was secretary of the National Temperance Society in 1868-82; member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University in 1852-55; trustee of Wes- leyan University in 1855-71. He wrote a number of religious works. PORTER, .Jane (1776-1850). An English novelist, born in Durham. She was educated in Edinburgh and lived with her mother and sister till their death at E.sher in Surrey, where she passed her last years. In her childhood she was often visited by young Walter Scott, who delighted her with fairy tales and stories of the border. Her first work. Thnildeus of Wnr- san^ (1S03), was extremely popular and se- sured her a complimentary letter from Ko-s- ciuszko and election into the Teitonic Order of Saint Joachim. In 1810 she published Scottish
