James Ezekiel Porter

James Ezekiel Porter
James Porter
Born(1847-02-02)February 2, 1847
Strong, Maine
DiedJune 25, 1876(1876-06-25) (aged 29)
Montana
Place of Burial
Strong Village Cemetery
Strong, Maine
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service/branchUnited States Army
Years of service1869–76
RankFirst Lieutenant
Unit7th U.S. Cavalry
Battles/warsAmerican Indian Wars

James Ezekiel Porter (February 2, 1847 – June 25, 1876) was one of General Custer's eleven officers killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand, and Porter was among the first verified casualties of the historic battle alerting the world to the demise of Custer's group.[1] According to several historians, Porter led troops in a defensive action at the Little Bighorn.[2][3] Porter also served in the American South during the Reconstruction Era,[4] where, according to a comrade, he respectably served "Ku Klux" duty[5] while the 7th Cavalry was charged with eradicating the Ku Klux Klan and illegal distilling.[6][7][8][9]

  1. ^ Jerry L. Russell, 1876 Facts About Custer & the Battle of the Little Big-Horn, (Da Capo Press, Oct 21, 1999) pg. 208
  2. ^ Thomas Hatch, Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (McFarland & Co., 1997) Page 95
  3. ^ Charles Kuhlman, Legend into History (Old Army Press, 1977) pg. 196,
  4. ^ Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S ..., Volume 3 By George Washington Cullum, United States Military Academy. Association of Graduates, (Houghton, Mifflin, 1891) pg. 133
  5. ^ "Annual Reunion of the United States Military Academy in 1877" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2013-01-29.
  6. ^ Duane Schultz, Custer: Lessons in Leadership (Macmillan, 2010), pg. 146
  7. ^ The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890, (2011) pg. 144
  8. ^ James Michael Martinez, Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 126, 127, 139, 145
  9. ^ Mark S. Weiner, Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste (Random House, 2007), pg. 198