Peter A. Porter

Peter Augustus Porter (July 14, 1827 – June 3, 1864) was a lawyer, politician, and member of the Breckinridge family and a Union Army colonel in the American Civil War. He died in the Battle of Cold Harbor.

Early life Porter was born on July 14, 1827, in Black Rock, New York, the only son of Yale lawyer Peter Buell Porter, a military leader in the War of 1812 and United States Secretary of War from 1828 to 1829, and Letitia Breckinridge. Before his parents marriage, his mother was a widow as her first husband, whom she married in 1804, Alfred William Grayson, had died in 1810. Grayson, a graduate of Cambridge University, was the son of Senator William Grayson of Virginia. Through his mother's first marriage, Porter had a half-brother, John Breckinridge Grayson (1806–1862).

Porter graduated from Harvard, studied at Heidelberg and Berlin, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1857. He also authored plays, poems, and essays. His maternal grandmother was Mary Hopkins Cabell, of the Cabell political family. His maternal uncles were Cabell Breckinridge (1788–1823), Rev. Dr. John Breckinridge (1797–1841), Robert Jefferson Breckinridge (1800–1871), and Rev. Dr. William Lewis Breckinridge (1803–1876).

His paternal grandfather was Col. Joshua Porter (1730–1825), a Yale College graduate, who fought in the Revolutionary War. He was at the head of his regiment in October 1777 when John Burgoyne surrendered his 6,000 men after the Battles of Saratoga. After the war, his grandfather was elected to various official positions for forty-eight consecutive years.

On July 7, 1862, he offered his services to Gov. Edwin D. Morgan and was appointed Colonel, in the Union Army, of the 129th New York State Volunteers. The regiment was reformed into the 8th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment on December 19, 1862. His regiment, under Brig. Gen. Robert O. Tyler, was of a unit that manned the forts around Washington, D.C., and participated in parades used to increase morale in the city in the time of war. However, they were also trained to be used as infantry if necessary. His reason for enlisting was reported in his eulogy printed in The New York Times,

In May 1864, during a lull in the Battle of Spotsylvania, a rebel soldier fired several shots at Porter while disguised by a tree. His men saw faint white smoke from the tree and six men shot at the tree, shooting the soldier. The soldier turned out to be a Confederate Captain who had been a prisoner at Fort McHenry while Porter commanded it and few days earlier had been paroled, but not exchanged. The soldier was badly wounded but stated that he had fired three times at Porter and hoped "to bring him down the next time," adding that "if I had killed him [Porter] I should die satisfied." Porter reportedly restrained his men from attacking the culprit with their bayonets. a daughter of George Washington Morris (1799–1834), cousin of Charles Manigault Morris (1820–1895), and granddaughter of Lewis Morris (1754–1824) and great-granddaughter of Lewis Morris (1726–1798) of Morrisania. Josephine was born at Grove Plantation in South Carolina, but her father was born at the family seat, Morrisania, in Westchester County, New York. When her father died in 1834, Josephine was only three years old and her mother Maria Whaley Morris took over management of the plantation until Josephine's brother, George Washington Morris, Jr., took it over. George Jr. ran up huge debts and after his death in 1857, the house and 124 of the 136 slaves the family owned were auctioned in Charleston in January 1858. In November of the following year, Peter and Josephine were married, and moved a brand new house in Niagara Falls along with Porter's sister, Elizabeth Porter.

Porter's funeral was held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, where he used to attend services when he lived in that city, led by Reverend Dr. Shelton, an Episcopal minister and the same that had given the same last rites to his father, his mother, and his wife. Following the funeral services at the church, his remains were carried to his final resting place in Oakwood Cemetery.