Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/397

 PORTER

PORTER

1863, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel of staff and aide-de-camp to Lieut. -Gen. U. S. Grant, April 4, 1864. He took part in the Richmond campaign, April 30, 1864-April 9, 1865; was brevetted major. May 6, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of the Wilder- ness; lieutenant-colonel, Aug. 16, 1864, for gal- lant and meritorious services in action at New- market Heights, Va.; colonel of U.S. volunteers, Feb. 24, 1865, and colonel U.S.A., March 13. 1865, for meritorious services during the rebellion, and brigadier-general, March 13, 1865, for gallant ser- vices in the field. He was promoted colonel of stuff and aide-de-camp to the general-in-chief, July 25, 1866, and served with Grant at the army headquarters in Washington until 1869. He was assistant secretary of war, 1866, and executive secretary to President Grant, 1869-73. In 1873 he entered into business in New York as vice-presi- dent of the Pullman Palace Car company. He was the first president of the New York, West Shore and Buffalo railroad, president of the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad, and a director of several banks and railroads. In 1897 he was ap- pointed by President McKinley U.S. ambassador to France, and was reappointed to the office by President Roosevelt. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical society, the Ameri- can Geographical society; president-general of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution; president of the Union League club, commander of the Mditary Order of the Loyal Legion, r-itfifillfV^ New York comman-

I'l'L— Al'll deiy, pastconiman-

der of the G. A. R., ---f^l and vice-president >" of the New York Ciiamber of Com- merce. As presi- dent of the Grant i^^jjj Monument associa- ^^ ^ tion he completed the monument, hav- "-z^ _ ing during the months of April and May, 1892, raised .S400,000 by popular subscription for the purpose. He was orator at the inauguration of Wasliington Arch, N.Y., May 4, 1895, and at the dedication of Grant's tomb, N.Y., April 27. 1897; and de- livered the oration at the West Point Centennial celebration, June 11, 1902. He is the autlior of: West Point Life (1860); Campaigning icith Grant (1897), and contributions to the leading magazines. PORTER, James Davis, governor of Ten- nessee, was born in Paris, Tenn., Dec. 7, 18'38; son of Dr. Thomas Kennedy and Geraldine (Hor-

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ton) Porter; grandson of William and Hannah (Kennedy) Porter and of Josiah and Nancy (White) Horton, and a descendant of John Porter of Warwickshire, Eng., who settled in Massachusetts in 1628, and in Winsor, Conn., in 1639. James Davis Porter was graduated from the University of Nashville, A.B., 1846, A.M., 1849, studied law in the ofiice of Gen. John H. Dunlap and at Cumberland university, Lebanon, Tenn., and in 1851 settled in practice in Paris, Tenn., where he was married June 17, 1851, to Susanna, daughter of Gen. John H. and Marietta (Beauchamp) Dun- lap. He served in the state legislature,

1859-61, where he was the author of the famous "Porter Resolutions" passed in 1861, pledging Tennessee to co-operate with the seceding states if force was resorted to by the Federal govern- ment. He served as adjutant-general to Gen. Gideon J. Pillow at Memphis for one month, and aided in organizing the provisional army of Ten- nessee. He then joined the staff of General Cheat- ham, and served as his chief of staff to the close of the war. He took part in the battles of Belmont, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, the siege of Atlanta, and the battles of Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashville, and Bentonville. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1870; judge of the 12tli judicial circuit of Tennessee, 1870-74, and was elected governor of Tennessee by the Democratic party, serving two terms, 1875-79. He was president of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis railroad company, 1880-1884; assistant secretaiy of state of the United States, 1885-87, and U.S. minister to Chili, 189-3-95. He became first vice-president of the Tennessee Historical society, re-elected at the annual meeting in 1902; a trustee of the Pea- body Education fund from 1883, and president of the board of trustees of the University of Nashville, 1890, having been a member of the board for many years before his election as presi- dent. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Nashville in 1877. He was chairman of the Tennessee delegation to the Democratic national convention of 1880 and 1892. He devoted the latter part of his life to farming, and was elected president of the Peabody College for Teachers and chancellor of the University of Nashville in 1901. He is the author of: The Mili-