1. Horace C Porter was an American soldier and diplomat who served as a lieutenant colonel, ordnance officer and staff officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, personal secretary to General and President Ulysses S Grant.
23 Facts About Horace Porter
1. 2.
Horace Porter was secretary to General William T Sherman, vice president of the Pullman Palace Car Company and US Ambassador to France from 1897 to 1905.
3.
Horace Porter was educated at The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and Harvard University.
4.
Horace Porter was commissioned a second lieutenant on April 22,1861, and a first lieutenant on June 7,1861.
5.
Horace Porter was distinguished in the Battle of Fort Pulaski, Georgia, at the Battle of Chickamauga, the Battle of the Wilderness and the Second Battle of Ream's Station.
6.
On June 26,1902, or July 8,1902, Horace Porter received the Medal of Honor for the Battle of Chickamauga as detailed in the citation noted below.
7.
From April 4,1864, to July 25,1866, Porter was aide-de-camp to General Ulysses S Grant with the grade of lieutenant colonel in the regular army.
8.
From July 25,1866, to March 4,1869, Porter was aide-de-camp to General Ulysses S Grant with the grade of colonel in the regular army.
9.
From 1869 to 1872, Horace Porter served as President Grant's personal secretary in the White House.
10.
Horace Porter had refused to take a $500,000 vested interest bribe from Jay Gould, a Wall Street financier, in the Black Friday gold market scam.
11.
Horace Porter told Grant about Gould's attempted bribery, thus warning Grant about Gould's intention of cornering the gold market.
12.
However, during the Whiskey Ring trials in 1876, Treasury Solicitor Bluford Wilson claimed that Horace Porter was involved with the scandal.
13.
Horace Porter testified before the committee investigating the scandal and was never formally charged with wrongdoing.
14.
Horace Porter resigned from the US Army on December 31,1873.
15.
Horace Porter was US Ambassador to France from 1897 to 1905, paying for the recovery of the body of John Paul Jones and sending it to the United States for re-burial.
16.
Horace Porter received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor from the French government in 1904.
17.
Horace Porter was president of the Union League Club of New York from 1893 to 1897.
18.
Horace Porter was elected an honorary member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati in 1902.
19.
Horace Porter was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Sons of the American Revolution and a Hereditary Companion of the Military Order of Foreign Wars by right of his descent from Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Porter who served in the American Revolution.
20.
Horace Porter was assigned national membership number 4069 and state membership number 69.
21.
Horace Porter died in Manhattan, New York and is interred at the Old First Methodist Church Cemetery in West Long Branch, New Jersey.
22.
In 1863, Horace Porter was married to Sophie King McHarg, the daughter of John McHarg and Martha Whipple Patch.
23.
Horace Porter was buried in West Long Branch Cemetery, West Long Branch, New Jersey.