Josiah Porter

(1830 - 1894)
Home State: Massachusetts
Command Billet: Battery Commander
Branch of Service: Artillery
Unit: Massachusetts Light Artillery, Battery A

Before the Antietam Campaign:
"Porter is reputed to have been the first Harvard College graduate to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was made a first lieutenant in the Massachusetts Volunteers [in Cook's Battery, Boston Light Artillery] in 1861, and promoted to Captain that same year [in August as the 1st (Battery A) Massachusetts Light was organized]. "
(from statue intro text)

In the Antietam Campaign:
His battery was not engaged on September 17th.

After the War:
"In 1865, he commanded the 22nd Regiment of the National Guard of New York (who would sponsor the his statue), and in 1867, received the rank of major. PorterÌs distinguished service led him to be promoted to colonel in 1869, and then to major general and adjutant general in 1886. "

References, Sources, and other notes:
Photograph above is of Porter in early 1861, as Lieutenant in Cook's Battery, Boston Light Artillery, from Miller.1

More on the Web:
An 1852 dageurrotype of him is in the Harvard collection. Use VIA to search that collection (use terms Josiah and Porter).

College: Harvard College Graduating Year: 1852

Notes

1 Miller, Francis Trevelyan, editor in chief, Photographic History of the Civil War, 10 vols., New York: The Review of Reviews Co., 1911-12, Vol. 5, pg. 26 [AotW citation 560]

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