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.Jerry L. Russell, 1876 Facts About Custer & the Battle of the Little Big-Horn, (Da Capo Press, Oct 21, 1999) pg. 208 According to several historians, Porter led troops in a defensive action at the Little Bighorn.Thomas Hatch, Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (McFarland & Co., 1997) Page 95Charles Kuhlman, Legend into History (Old Army Press, 1977) pg. 196, Porter also served in the American South during the Reconstruction Era,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 where, according to a comrade, he respectably served "Ku Klux" duty while the 7th Cavalry was charged with eradicating the Ku Klux Klan and illegal distilling.Duane Schultz, Custer: Lessons in Leadership (Macmillan, 2010), pg. 146The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890, (2011) pg. 144James Michael Martinez, Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 126, 127, 139, 145Mark S. Weiner, Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste (Random House, 2007), pg. 198
Early life and education
James Ezekiel Porter was born in Strong, Maine, in 1846 to Jeremy W. Porter, a wood manufacturer and state senator and trustee of the state reform school.A Genealogy of the Descendants of Richard Porter, who Settled at Weymouth, Mass., 1635, and Allied Families: Also, Some Account of the Descendants of John Porter, who Settled at Hingham, Mass., 1635, and Salem (Danvers) Mass., 1644 (Google eBook), (Burr & Robinson, 1878) pg. 191 James Porter attended Bates College (called the Maine State Seminary until 1863) from 1862 to 1863 and then Norwich University from 1863 to 1864.Ellis, William Arba, Norwich University 1819-1911: Her History, Her Graduates, Her Roll of Honor, Capital City Press, Montpelier, VT: 1911 Porter was then appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point by U.S. Representative Sidney Perham,Edward Payson Weston, The Northern Monthly: A Magazine of Original Literature and ..., Volume 1, September 1864, pg. 490 and Porter graduated in 1869, ranked 16th in a class of 39.Thom Hatch, The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong Custer and the Plains Indian Wars, (Stackpole Books, 2002) pg. 212 Porter and the other officers of the 7th Cavalry "in the nineteenth century...often came from cultured backgrounds."Jerome A. Greene, Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 (University of Oklahoma Press, Apr 30, 2008), pg. 20-21 Most officers in the Seventh Cavalry were educated at "civilian colleges" or the "prestigious Military Academy at West Point" and were part of a "stratified class system existing between commissioned and enlisted status."Jerome A. Greene, Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 (University of Oklahoma Press, Apr 30, 2008), pg. 20-21
Among Porter's classmates who served as general officers were Samuel Escue Tillman, William P. Duvall, Earl Dennison Thomas, and William W. Robinson Jr. Among his prominent classmates who did not attain general's rank were Eric Bergland, Arthur Sherburne Hardy, and John Gregory Bourke.
Military career He received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment upon graduation and was first sent to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, then Fort Wallace and Fort Harker, also in Kansas.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 He participated in "The Plains" Indian warfare from 1869 to 1876 and also served "Ku Klux" duty in the South, according to a comrade, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era when Porter served in various cities between 1871 and 1873, including Chester, South Carolina, Rutherfordton, North Carolina, Lincolnton, North Carolina and then Shelbyville, Lebanon and Louisville, Kentucky while the 7th was charged with suppressing the Ku Klux Klan.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. 133Duane Schultz, Custer: Lessons in Leadership (Macmillan, 2010), pg. 146The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890, (2011) pg. 144James Michael Martinez, Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 126, 127, 139, 145Mark S. Weiner, Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste (Random House, 2007), pg. 198 For his efforts in serving "Ku Klux" duty, Porter was recognized by a comrade for his "energy and discretion [which] formed a combination sufficiently rare and valuable to give him a name among his fellows." In 1872, Porter became a 1st lieutenant and was assigned to Troop I.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 He was eventually sent back to Fort Abraham Lincoln and Fort Totten in Dakota.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 He served in the Northern Boundary Survey in 1873 and 1874 being based in Minnesota.Thom Hatch, The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong Custer and the Plains Indian Wars, (Stackpole Books, 2002) pg. 212 Prior to the Battle at Little Bighorn in June 1876, Porter "had requested a transfer to the general staff for a more settled life" because "his wife had just given birth to their second child in March" and "the couple had moved fourteen times."James Donovan, A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of ... (Little, Brown, & Co., 2008) When Captain Myles Keogh returned to Ireland in 1874, Porter took command of Company I.Tony Rees, Arc of the Medicine Line: Mapping the World's Longest Undefended Border, (U of Nebraska Press), 2007, pg. 253
Death at the Little Bighorn and unidentified body