Andrew Porter was an American officer during the Civil War and served under George McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign.
Early Life and Military Career
- Andrew Porter was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on July 10, 1820.
- He was the son of Sarah Humes and George Bryan Porter. Porter was the Governor of Michigan Territory.
- Andrew Porter married Margaret Falconer Biddle. the two had one son together.
- Porter had some unique family relations: He was the grandson of Andrew Porter, a Revolutionary War officer and the second cousin to Mary Todd Lincoln. His younger first cousin, Horace Porter, served as a Union General and as an ambassador to France.
- He served in the Mexican-American War and was promoted throughout the war for his accomplishments.
- Porter spent the next fourteen years serving at various posts and forts on the frontier.
- He fought a duel in Texas with future Confederate general James J. Archer, whose second was Thomas J. Jackson, later "Stonewall" Jackson.
- At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was serving as a colonel of the 16th U.S. Infantry.
- He was appointed as a brigadier general in May 1861 and commanded the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division at the First Battle of Bull Run.
- He served as Provost Marshal of the District of Columbia and was then appointed as Provost Marshal General of the Army of the Potomac in the Peninsula Campaign. In April 1864, he mustered out for health reasons.
- Porter moved to Paris, France, in an attempt to improve his health. However, he died at his home there in 1872, and his remains were returned to the United States for burial in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.