Andrew Porter (Revolutionary War officer)

Andrew Porter
Born	(1743-09-24)September 24, 1743 Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	November 16, 1812(1812-11-16) (aged 69) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Allegiance	United States
Service / branch	Continental Marines, Continental Army
Rank	Colonel
Battles / wars	Battle of Trenton Battle of Princeton Battle of Brandywine Battle of Germantown Tioga Point
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth McDowell Eliza Parker
Children	13, including George, David, James
Relations	Horace Porter (grandson) Andrew Porter (grandson) Mary Todd Lincoln (great-granddaughter)
Other work	Pennsylvania surveyor-general
Pennsylvania Historical Marker
Type	Roadside
Criteria	American Revolution, Military
Designated	March 11, 1949
Location	W. Main & Selma Sts., Norristown
Marker Text	Revolutionary War officer; surveyor of western and northern State boundaries, 1784-87; Surveyor-General, 1809-13. Born near here, 1743; died at Harrisburg, 1813. His home, "Selma," is marked, a block distant.

Andrew Porter (September 24, 1743 – November 16, 1813) was an American officer during the Revolutionary War.[1]

Early life

Porter was born on September 24, 1743, at Norriton, his father's farm near Norristown, Pennsylvania.[2] He was one of the fourteen children of Robert Porter (1698–1770) and Lileous (née Christy) Porter (1708–1771). His father had immigrated from Derry, Ireland, to New Hampshire in 1720, and later moved to Pennsylvania.[3]

Career

Porter moved to Philadelphia as a young man, where he became a schoolmaster and amateur astronomer.[4] In 1776, he joined the American forces in the Revolutionary War as a captain of marines. He later moved to the artillery, in which branch he served at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Tioga Point. He was later directed by General George Washington to supervise the preparation of artillery ammunition for the Siege of Yorktown.[5] By the end of the war, he had been promoted to the rank of colonel.[2]

Post Revolutionary War

After the end of the war, Porter continued to serve in a military role with the Pennsylvania militia, rising to the rank of major general. He also served as the state's surveyor-general, and was one of the commissioners tasked with determining the boundaries between Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio.[2][5]

He was offered the position of Brigadier general in the U.S. Army, at the end of the War, and United States Secretary of War by President Madison, but he declined both due to his advanced age.[2]

Personal life

Porter was married twice, first to Elizabeth McDowell (1747–1773), with whom he had five children, including:[3]

• Robert Porter (1768–1842), who married Sarah Williams (1775–1816)[6]
• Elizabeth Rittenhouse Porter (1769–1850), who married Robert Porter Parker (1760–1800) and was the grandmother of Mary Todd Lincoln.[7]

After the death of his first wife, he remarried to Eliza Parker (1750–1821), with whom he had eight more children, including:[3][8]

• Charlotte Porter (1778–1850), who married Robert Brooke of Virginia
• David Rittenhouse Porter (1788–1867), Governor of Pennsylvania
• Harriett Porter (1788–1864), who married Thomas McKeen (1763–1858)
• George Bryan Porter (1791–1834), Governor of the Michigan Territory
• James Madison Porter (1793–1862), Secretary of War under President John Tyler

Porter died on November 16, 1813, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Porter Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, formed in 1814 is named for Porter.

Descendants

His grandson through his son David, Horace Porter (1837–1921), was a Union general in the American Civil War who served as aide-de-camp to General Grant and later U.S. Ambassador to France. He is also a Medal of Honor Recipient. [9][10]

His grandson through his son George was Andrew Porter (1820–1872), also a brigadier general in the Union during the American Civil War who was an important staff officer under George B. McClellan during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, serving as the Provost Marshal of the Army of the Potomac.[11]

Through his daughter Elizabeth, he was the great-grandfather of Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of 16th President Abraham Lincoln.[7]

References

1. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 1880. p. 261. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
2. Sons of the American Revolution (1902). A National Register of the Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Volume 2 Volume 2 of A National Register of the Society Sons of the American Revolution: Comp. and Pub. Under the Auspices of the National Publication Committee, Sons of the American Revolution A National Register of the Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution. Press of A. H. Kellogg, 1902. p. 332. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
3. Green, Thomas Marshall (1889). Historic Families of Kentucky: With Special Reference to Stocks Immediately Derived from the Valley of Virginia; Tracing in Detail Their Various Genealogical Connexions and Illustrating from Historic Sources Their Influence Upon the Political and Social Development of Kentucky and the States of the South and West. R. Clarke. p. 271. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
4. "Description: Andrew Porter papers". discover.hsp.org. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
5. "To George Washington from Andrew Porter, 24 August 1789". founders.archives.gov. Founders Online, National Archives. Retrieved 23 August 2017. Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 15 June 1789–5 September 1789, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989, p. 534.
6. Sons of the Revolution Pennsylvania Society (1898). Decennial Register of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution: 1888-1898. F. B. Lippincott. p. 79. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
7. Evans, W. A. (2010). Mrs. Abraham Lincoln: A Study of Her Personality and Her Influence on Lincoln. SIU Press. ISBN 9780809385607. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
8. Unrue, Darlene Harbour (2010). Katherine Anne Porter Remembered. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817316679. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
9. "HORACE PORTER". The New York Times. 30 May 1921. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
10. "NOTED MEN AT BIER OF GENERAL PORTER; Hear 'Taps' Soundsd Over Veteran at Simple Services in 5thAv. Presbyterian Church.DEEDS PRAISED IN PRAYER Rev. Dr. John Kelman Gives Thanksfor "One of the Great Gentlemen of the Olden Days."". The New York Times. 3 June 1921. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
11. Miller, Richard F. (2014). States at War, Volume 3: A Reference Guide for Pennsylvania in the Civil War. University Press of New England. p. 371. ISBN 9781611686197. Retrieved 23 August 2017.