Fitz-John Porter

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Major General Fitz-John Porter

Fitz-John Porter (born August 31, 1822 in Portsmouth , New Hampshire , † May 21, 1901 in Morristown , New Jersey ) was a general in the US Army . He gained particular fame through his controversial participation in the Second Battle of the Bull Run and the subsequent court martial . For the following decades, Porter worked tirelessly on his rehabilitation, which he finally succeeded.

Early life

Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Porter was the descendant of a family whose male members frequently served in the United States Navy . His cousins William D. Porter , David Dixon Porter, and David G. Farragut were all senior officers in the service of the US Navy. Nevertheless, Porter decided to join the army. In 1845 he completed his officer training at the Military Academy in West Point as the eighth best of a total of 41 cadets of his class. He was then awarded a Brevet Lieutenant and was transferred to the 4th US Artillery Regiment.

On June 18, 1846, Porter was promoted to lieutenant, and on May 29, 1847, he was promoted to first lieutenant. He served in the Mexican-American War . In the Battle of Molino del Rey , Porter was distinguished by particular bravery and on September 8, 1847 was made a brevet captain. On September 13, 1847, Porter was wounded in the Battle of Chapultepec . For his service in this battle he was made a brevet major.

After the war, Porter taught at the Military Academy from 1849 to 1853 as a cavalry and artillery instructor. Until 1855 he was adjutant to the head of the military academy. This was followed in 1856 by a stay in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas as Deputy Adjutant General in the Defense Area West. In the Utah War against the Mormons , Porter served from 1857 to 1858 under the later Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston . By the end of 1860 he was inspecting and improving the port fortifications in Charleston , South Carolina . He was then involved in the evacuation of the members of the armed forces who remained loyal to the US government from the apostate Texas .

In the Civil War

After the beginning of the Civil War , Porter was first chief of staff and deputy adjutant general of the Pennsylvania military area. On May 14, 1861, he was promoted to colonel and commander of the 15th infantry regiment. On August 7, 1861, he was promoted to Brigadier General , effective May 17, and on August 28, 1861, he took command of a division in the newly formed Army of the Potomac under Major General George B. McClellan . Porter quickly became an important advisor and loyal friend to McClellan. This close connection with the soon-to-be-controversial Commander-in-Chief of the Potomac Army would ultimately have a devastating effect on Porter's further career.

With the division Porter took part in the peninsula campaign and was first involved in fighting with the Confederates during the siege of Yorktown . When McClellan set up two provisional corps , he gave Porter command of V Corps. In the course of the seven-day battle, and especially in the battle of Gaines Mill , Porter demonstrated a special talent for defensive actions. In the battle of Malvern Hill he played a prominent role. For his successful actions as part of the Peninsula Campaign Porter was promoted to Major General of the Volunteers on July 4, 1862.

The Second Battle of the Bull Run

In the summer of 1862, Porter was posted with the V Corps to reinforce the Virginia Army under Major General John Pope for the Northern Virginia campaign. Porter refused and openly complained against this order and criticized Pope personally. During the Second Battle of Bull Run, on August 29, 1862, Pope ordered an attack by Porter's Corps into the flank and rear of the Northern Virginia Confederate Army wing, commanded by Major General Thomas Jonathan Jackson . Porter's corps came to a halt when it encountered the Confederate cavalry under Major General JEB Stuart shielding the main Confederate power. Pope's orders were for Porter's corps to attack the Confederate right wing; but at the same time was to remain in close contact with the neighboring division under Major General John F. Reynolds . This resulted in a conflict that Porter could not resolve, since both parts of the command could not be executed at the same time. When the order was issued, Pope was apparently not aware that the right wing of the Confederate , commanded by Major General James Longstreet , had reached the battlefield and that an attempt to fall Jackson's forces into the flank and back would inevitably lead to a clash with the superior troops Longstreets and thus would have led to certain defeat. In the meantime, Porter had learned of Longstreet's arrival through his scouts and knew that his troops were immediately in front of his corps. So Porter decided not to carry out Pope's attack order.

On August 30, Pope ordered another attack, and this time Porter reluctantly obeyed. When Porter's 5,000-strong corps moved towards Jackson's right flank and attacked it, it exposed its own flank, into which Longstreet's 30,000 Confederates pushed. Under Long Street's attack, Porter's corps collapsed and the Confederates continued to advance into Pope's flank. This resulted in exactly the situation that Porter had wanted to avoid by refusing the attack order from the previous day. The Pope, frantic because of his defeat, accused Porter of refusing to give orders and relieved him of his command on September 5, 1862.

Pope was soon relieved of his command himself and posted to Minnesota to fight the Indians . The Virginia Army was subordinated to the Potomac Army and Commander-in-Chief McClellan reinstated Porter as the commanding general . With the V Corps Porter took part in the Maryland campaign. In the battle of Antietam the corps remained in reserve. In order to give General Burnside's attack in the afternoon further penetration, McClellan considered bringing parts of the V Corps into the action. As he was about to give the order, Porter is said to have made the following remark, now famous, which convinced McClellan not to use his reserve because of the possible Confederate reserves:

Remember, general! I command the last reserve of the last army of the Republic.

"Remember, General, I command the last reserves of the Republic's last army."

Shortly after the Battle of Antietam, McClellan was removed from President Abraham Lincoln for defensive warfare from his post as Commander in Chief of the Potomac Army and replaced on November 9, 1862 by Ambrose Everett Burnside . With that, Porter's star began to decline for good.

Before the court martial

On November 25, 1862, Porter was arrested and tried before a court-martial for his behavior during the second battle at Bull Run. McClellan, released from his command, could no longer help Porter. On the contrary, it was precisely the close connection with the disgraced McClellan and the open criticism that Porter had exerted on Pope that significantly led to Porter being brought to trial. The officers who tried Porter were chosen by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton , who personally detested McClellan.

On January 10, 1863, the court martial found Porter guilty of insubordination and misconduct. On January 21, 1863, he was then dishonorably discharged from the army.

After the Civil War

After the war ended, Porter turned down an offer to serve in the Egyptian army and spent most of his remaining life battling the court martial. In 1878, Porter was rehabilitated by an extraordinary commission, chaired by General John M. Schofields , which found that Porter's refusal to order Pope to attack had saved the Virginia Army from an even worse defeat. Eight years later, President Chester A. lifted Arthur Porter's sentence and, due to a special Senate law, he was reassigned to the army as Colonel of the Infantry retrospectively as of May 14, 1864 , without being awarded any retroactive compensation. Two days later, on August 7, 1886, Porter resigned from the army at his own request.

Porter then worked in the mining business, construction business, and trading. In New York City, he held positions as a public works officer, for the city police and for the fire department.

Porter died on May 21, 1901 in Morristown, New Jersey and was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn , New York City.

In 1904, a statue of Porter made by James E. Kelly was erected in his native Portsmouth, New Hampshire .

See also

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Buel, Johnson eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War , 1884–1888, Vol. 2, p. 656. General Thomas M. Anderson to editors, The Last Reserve
personal data
SURNAME Porter, Fitz-John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American general in the Civil War
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH Portsmouth , New Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 1901
Place of death Morristown , New Jersey