New-York tribune., 1921-05-30
Gen. Porter, 81,
Diplomat and
Publicist, Dies
Veteran of Civil War and
Friend of Grant Served
as u. 8. Ambassador to
France, 1907 TO 1905
Funeral To Be Thursday
Daughter, i'm Switzerland,
Was Preparing for Quick
Trip to See Father Alive

veteran or the CIVIi war and well
known diplomat and publicist, died at
d o'clock yesterday morning at his
home, 277 Madison Avenue, after hav-
ing been unconscious since Thursday
evening He was eighty-four years old
The members Of his family who were
at his bedside were his sister, Mrs.
James Wheeler; his brother-in-law,
Henry McHarg, and his niece, DR.. jose
phine eHindrup, of Brookline, Mass.
His fhysician, DR.. James r. Hayden,
12l West Fifty-ffth Street, and his
secretary, D. a. Foster, were also at
his side during his last hours.
Mrs. Elsie Porter Mende, General
Porter's daughter, is in Switzerland,
and was notified by cable several days
ago Of her fathers condition. She has
been making preparations TO hurry to
his bedside General Porter's only
other child, Clarence, died two years
ago.
General Porter Ill for Year
Members of the family said yester-
day that General Porter had not been
we'll since he underwent an operation
about year ago. Until that time he
was an active figure about the many
clubs of which ne was a member.
Shortly before he was stricken last
week he had made plans to spend the
summer in Greenwich, Conn, as had
been his custom for several years.
The Madison Avenue house has been
his residence for the last twenty-five
years.
Funeral services for General Porter
will be held Thursday morning at 10
o'clock at the Fifth Avenue Presby-
tcrian Church, Fifth Avenue and Fifty
fifth Street The Rev. DR.. John Kel-
man, pastor OF the church, will of
tiCiate. A committee was appointed
by the Union League Club, of which
General Porter was president from
1893 to 1897, to attend the services
II included the following men:
Chauncey NJ Depew, Elihu Root,
Samuel W. Fairchild Charles F..
Hughes, Henry P. Dawson, James r.
Sheffield, William r. Taft, General
John J. Pershng General Nelson A.
Miles, Henry A. Hayden, William H.
Eemick, Charles A. Fowler, Gilbert G.
Thorae, Lincoln Adams, Benjamin B.
Ooell, Frederic ]. Middlebrook. Henry
C. Quinby, Gates w McGarrah, Ber-
tram II. Borden, William C. Breed,
William D. Guthrie.
Also Mortimer G. Addoms, George
F. Baker, William G. Bates, John L..
Brewer, William " Calder Charles
W Carpenter, Emory W. Clark Henry
| Clews, Henry j. Cochran, Washington
L. Connor, George B. Cortelyou, Ed
ward r. Finch. Horace W. Fuller. John
W. Griggs, Ulysses S. Grant jr., Will
lam s. Hawk, Warren Healey, Job E.
Hedges.
Also A. Barton Hepburn, George W.
Hodges, Alexander C. Humphreys,
Charles Lanier, Chester S. Lord, Henry
| c, Meyer John Z. Miller, Andrew Mills,
/ William D. Murphy, p. Benjamin Parr.
William II. Porter, Henry B. Quimby,
P. Tecumseh Sherman, George H. Tay-
lot, James W. Wadsworth jr., James
n. Wheelan, Albert II. Wiggin and
Clark Williams.
Military Funeral Deferred
1t was stated late yesterday after
noon that military funeral would
probably be deferred for at least two
weeks to make possible the arrival
Of Mrs. Mende from Switzerland in
time for it. Following the services
Thursday, the body of General Porter
viii be taken to Long Branch, N. j.,
and then to the coast town of Elberon,
where it Will be placed in a vault.
lhe last survivor of Grants military
staff was also in some respects the
most distinguished member of that
notable body. For Horace Porter was
not merely a soldier, though in that
capacity he attained high rank. He was
q scholar, diplomat, a wit, an orator
and more than ordinarily successful
business man.
The son OF Governor David r. Porter
OF Pennsylvania, Horace Porter was
born at Huntington, Pa, on April 15,
1881. He was prepared az the Harris
burg Academy to enter Princeton Col
ieges but, already aspiring to a military
career by way Of West Point, he at the
last moment decided to enter the Law
renee Scientific School of Harvard as
at1ordlng better preparation for the
Military Academy. He was graduated
from West Point in 1860 Until the
Civil War hegan he was an instructor
at West Point, but in the early summer
of 1861 he was sent to the front There
his career was active and brilliant.
Promoted to first lieutenant in June,
1861, he was brevetted captain in April
1862, for gallant and meritorious serv-
ices" at Fort Pulaski; he received the
Congressional Medal Of Honor for his
services at Chickamauga; he was brew
cited major for his work in the Wilder
ness; successive promotions, always
for achievements in the field, followed,
and on March 13, 1865, he was made
colonel and brevet brigadier general
for gallant services in the field"
Grants Close COmrade
Meantime he had attracted Grants
attention. This was at Chattanooga,
where he was serving on the staff of
General Thomas. Soon afterward
Grant made him an aide-de-camp on his
own staff, and kept him there in par
ticularly intimate and confidential re-
lations throughout the remainder of
the war. He was with Grant in the
Wilderness, and after Lees surrender
Grant gave to him as a personal token
of esteem the headquarters flag which
had been in use ever since Grant came
from the West to win the war. Nor
did his association with Grant end
with the war. When the latter became
General he retained Porter as his
A D. c., and when he became Secretary
of War he made Porter Assistant Sec
retary. Finally, when Grant became
President, Porter was his executive
secretary from 1869 to 1873.
At the latter date General Porter
reluctantly withdrew from the personal
service of his old chief to enter busi-
ness as vice-president of the Pullman
Palace Car Company, and thereafter
for many years he was conspicuous
and successful figure in the business
world. He was president of the New