Fitz John Porter - Civil War - Major General

Fitz John Porter - Civil War - Major General   Fitz John Porter - Early Life Career: Born August 31, 1822 in Portsmouth, NH, Fitz John Porter came from a prominent naval family and was a cousin of Admiral David Dixon Porter.   Enduring a difficult childhood as his father, Captain John Porter, battled alcoholism, Porter elected not to go to sea and instead sought an appointment to West Point.   Gaining admission in 1841, he was a classmate of Edmund Kirby Smith.   Graduating four years later, Porter ranked eighth in a class of forty-one and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the 4nd US Artillery.   With the outbreak of the Mexican-American War the following year, he prepared for combat.            Ã‚   Assigned to Major General Winfield Scotts army, Porter landed in Mexico in the spring of 1847 and took part in the siege of Veracruz.   As the army pushed inland, he saw further action at Cerro Gordo on April 18 before receiving a promotion to first lieutenant in May.   In August, Porter fought at the Battle of Contreras before earning a brevet promotion for his performance at Molino del Rey on September 8.   Seeking to capture Mexico City, Scott attacked Chapultepec Castle later that month.   A resounding American victory that led to citys fall, the battle saw Porter wounded while fighting near the Belen Gate.   For his efforts, he was brevetted to major.    Fitz John Porter - Antebellum Years: Following the end of the war, Porter returned north for garrison duty at Fort Monroe, VA and Fort Pickens. FL.   Ordered to West Point in 1849, he began a four-year term as an instructor in artillery and cavalry.   Remaining at the academy, he also served as adjutant until 1855.   Sent to the frontier later that year, Porter became assistant adjutant general for the Department of the West.   In 1857, he moved west with Colonel Albert S. Johnstons expedition to quell issues with the Mormons during the Utah War.   Serving as the forces adjutant, Porter returned east in 1860.   First tasked with inspecting harbor fortifications along the East Coast, in February 1861 he was ordered to aid in evacuating Union personnel from Texas after it seceded.    Fitz John Porter - The Civil War Begins: Returning, Porter briefly served as chief of staff and assistant adjutant general for the Department of Pennsylvania before being promoted to colonel and given command of the 15th US Infantry on May 14.   As the Civil War had commenced a month earlier, he worked to prepare his regiment for battle.   During the summer of 1861, Porter acted as chief of staff first to Major General Robert Patterson and then Major General Nathaniel Banks.   On August 7, Porter received a promotion to brigadier general.   This was backdated to May 17 to give him sufficient seniority to command a division in Major General George B. McClellans newly-formed Army of the Potomac.   Befriending his superior, Porter began a relationship which would ultimately prove devastating for his career. Fitz John Porter - The Peninsula Seven Days: In the spring of 1862, Porter moved south to the Peninsula with his division.   Serving in Major General Samuel Heintzelmans III Corps, his men took part in the siege of Yorktown in April and early May.   On May 18, as the Army of the Potomac slowly pushed up the Peninsula, McClellan selected Porter to command the newly-formed V Corps.   At the end of the month, McClellans advance was halted at the Battle of Seven Pines and General Robert E. Lee assumed command of Confederate forces in the area.   Recognizing that his army could not win a protracted siege at Richmond, Lee began making plans to attack Union forces with the goal of driving them back from the city. Assessing McClellans position, he found that Porters corps was isolated north of the Chickahominy River near Mechanicsville. In this location, V Corps was tasked with protecting McClellans supply line, the Richmond and York River Railroad, which ran back to White House Landing on the Pamunkey River. Seeing an opportun ity, Lee intended to attack while the bulk of McClellans men were below the Chickahominy.    Moving against Porter on June 26, Lee assaulted the Union lines at the Battle of Beaver Dam Creek.   Though his men inflicted a bloody defeat on the Confederates, Porter received orders from a nervous McClellan to fall back to Gaines Mill.   Attacked the next day, V Corps mounted a stubborn defense until being overwhelmed in the Battle of Gaines Mill.   Crossing the Chickahominy, Porters corps joined the armys withdrawal back towards the York River.   During the retreat, Porter selected Malvern Hill, near the river, as site for the army to make a stand.   Exercising tactical control for an absent McClellan, Porter repelled numerous Confederate assaults at the Battle of Malvern Hill on July 1.   In recognition of his strong performance during the campaign, Porter was promoted to major general on July 4. Fitz John Porter - Second Manassas: Seeing that McClellan posed little threat, Lee began marching north to deal with Major General John Popes Army of Virginia.   Shortly thereafter, Porter received orders to bring his corps north to reinforce Popes command.   Disliking the arrogant Pope, he openly complained about this assignment and criticized his new superior.   On August 28, Union and Confederate troops met in the opening phases of the Second Battle of Manassas.   Early the next day, Pope ordered Porter to move west to attack Major General Thomas Stonewall Jacksons right flank.   Obeying, he halted when his men encountered Confederate cavalry along their line of march.   A further series of contradictory orders from Pope further muddled the situation.   Having received intelligence that Confederates led by Major General James Longstreet were on his front, Porter elected not to move forward with the planned attack.   Though alerted to Longstreets approach that night, Pope misinterpreted the meaning of his arrival and again ordered Porter to launch an assault against Jackson the next morning.   Reluctantly complying, V Corps moved forward around noon.   Though they broke through the Confederate lines, intense counterattacks forced them back.   As Porters assault was failing, Longstreet opened a massive attack against V Corps left flank.   Shattering Porters lines, the Confederate effort rolled up Popes army and drove it from the field.   In the wake of the defeat, Pope accused Porter of insubordination and relieved him of his command on September 5. Fitz John Porter - Court-Martial: Quickly restored to his post by McClellan who assumed overall command following Popes defeat, Porter led V Corps north as Union troops moved to block Lees invasion of Maryland.   Present at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, Porters corps remained in reserve as McClellan was concerned about Confederate reinforcements.   Though V Corps could have played a decisive role at key points in the battle, Porters admonition to the cautious McClellan of Remember, General, I command the last reserve of the last Army of the Republic ensured that it remained idle.   Following Lees retreat south, McClellan remained in place in Maryland to the irritation of President Abraham Lincoln.   During this time, Pope, who had been exiled to Minnesota, maintained an ongoing correspondence with his political allies in which he scapegoated Porter for the defeat at Second Manassas.   On November 5, Lincoln removed McClellan from command which resulted in a loss of political protection for Porter.   Stripped of this cover, he was arrested on November 25 and charge with disobeying a lawful order and misbehavior in front of the enemy.   In a politically-driven court-martial, Porters connections to the relieved McClellan were exploited and he was found guilty of both charges on January 10, 1863.   Dismissed from the Union Army eleven days later, Porter immediately commenced efforts to clear his name. Fitz John Porter - Later Life: Despite Porters work, his attempts to secure a new hearing were repeatedly blocked by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and officers who spoke in his support were punished.   Following the war, Porter sought and received aid from both Lee and Longstreet as well as later garnered support from Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and George H. Thomas.   Finally, in 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes directed Major General John Schofield to form a board to reexamine the case.   After extensively investigating the case, Schofield recommended that Porters name be cleared and stated that his actions on August 29, 1862 helped to save the army from a more severe defeat.   The final report also presented a scathing image of Pope as well as placed a large amount of the blame for the defeat on III Corps commander Major General Irvin McDowell.        Ã‚   Political wrangling prevented Porter from immediately being reinstated.   This would not occur until August 5, 1886 when an act of Congress restored him to his prewar rank of colonel.   Vindicated, he retired from the US Army two days later.   In the years after the Civil War, Porter was involved in a number of business interests and later served in New York City government as commissioners of public works, fire, and police.   Dying on May 21, 1901, Porter was buried in Brooklyns Green-Wood Cemetery. Selected Sources: Civil War Trust: Major General Fitz John PorterNPS: Major General Fitz John PorterCivil War: Major General Fitz John Porter

The Third Estate During the French Revolution

The Third Estate During the French Revolution In early modern Europe, the Estates were a theoretical division of a countrys population, and the Third Estate referred to the mass of normal, everyday people. They played a vital role in the early days of the French Revolution, which also ended the common use of the division. The Three Estates Sometimes, in late medieval and early France, a gathering termed  an Estates General was called. This was a representative body designed to rubber-stamp the decisions of the king. It was not a parliament as the English would understand it, and it often didnt do what the monarch was hoping for, and by the late eighteenth century had fallen out of royal favor. This Estates General divided the representatives who came to it into three, and this division was often applied to French society as a whole. The First Estate was comprised of the clergy, the Second Estate the nobility, and the Third Estate everyone else. Makeup of the Estates The Third Estate was thus a vastly larger proportion of the population than the other two estates, but in the Estates General, they only had one vote, the same as the other two estates had each. Equally, the representatives who went to the Estates General werent drawn evenly across all of society: they tended to be the well to do clergy and nobles, such as the middle class. When the Estates General was called in the late 1980s, many of the Third Estates representatives were lawyers and other professionals, rather than anyone in what would be considered in socialist theory lower class. The Third Estate Makes History The Third Estate would become a very important early part of the French Revolution. In the aftermath of Frances decisive aid to the colonists in the American War of Independence, the French crown found itself in a terrible financial position. Experts on finance  came and went, but nothing was resolving the issue, and the French king accepted appeals for an Estates General to be called and for this to rubber-stamp financial reform. However, from a royal point of view, it went terribly wrong. The Estates was called, the votes were had, and representatives arrived to form the Estates General. But the dramatic inequality in voting- the Third Estate represented more people, but only had the same voting power as the clergy or the nobility- led to the Third Estate demanding more voting power, and as things developed, more rights. The king mishandled events, and so did his advisors, while members of both the clergy and the nobility went over (physically) to the Third Estate to support their demands. In 1789, this led to the creation of a new National Assembly that better represented those not part of the clergy or nobility. In turn, they also effectively started the French Revolution, which would sweep away not just the king and the old laws but the whole Estates system in favor of citizenship. The Third Estate had therefore  left a major mark on history when it effectively gained the power to dissolve itself.