John Porter Hatch was born on January 9, 1822, at Oswego, New York, United States, the descendant of a Kentish family which came to the American colonies early in the seventeenth century. His parents were Moses Porter Hatch and Hannah Reed.
At eighteen John entered the United States Military Academy, from which in 1845 he graduated seventeenth in a class of forty one.
John's graduation took him as a brevet second lieutenant to service with the 3rd Infantry in the military occupation of Texas. In the opening weeks of the Mexican War, he fought in the principal encounters of Taylor’s campaign in the north of Mexico. After the battle of Resaca de la Palma, he transferred to the Mounted Rifles and with them he fought in the brilliant battles of Scott’s campaign to capture Mexico City. He was brevetted first lieutenant for his conduct at Contreras and Churubusco, and captain for gallant and meritorious conduct at Chapultepec.
After the war Hatch returned with his organization to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, but the new territories made many demands on the little United States Army, and the years which intervened before the Civil War brought Hatch varied duty in many remote corners of the country. He marched overland to Oregon, served there and in Washington, in Texas, and New Mexico. Again he saw active fighting in the campaigns against the Mogolon Indians and against the Navajos and took part in a number of scouting expeditions. He was serving as chief of commissariat in New Mexico when the crisis of 1861 called him to the East. He had received his captaincy in the regular service; now he took command, as brigadier-general of volunteers, of a brigade of cavalry at Annapolis.
After a series of daring reconnaissances along the Rapidan and the Rappahannock, he commanded the cavalry of the V Army Corps under General Banks in the operations in the Shenandoah Valley from March to August of 1862. He fought at Winchester and took part in the retreat down the valley to the Potomac. In the campaign in Northern Virginia which immediately followed, he commanded a brigade of infantry, and again at Manassas, where he was lightly wounded, for a brief but eventful week, he commanded the 1st Division, I Army Corps, until a severe wound received at South Mountain disabled him for many weeks. Thereafter, until June 1864, although he was on active duty, his health kept him from combat service. Meanwhile he performed valuable service behind the lines, on court-martial duty, in command of draft rendez- vous, and of a cavalry depot.
After Sherman’s march to Savannah, Hatch held command of various districts in the new Department of the South, and several times saw active fighting. The end of the war found him in command of the district of Charleston, whence he went to New York to be mustered out of the volunteer service. He now reverted to the rank of major of cavalry, United States Army, to which he had been promoted in 1863. During the twenty years following, until his retirement in 1886, he Pursued the thankless and obscure tasks on the frontier, in Texas, the Indian territory, Montana, and Washington. His promotion to lieutenant-colonel came in 1873 and to colonel in 1881. At the time of his retirement, he was in command of the 2nd Cavalry, at Fort alia Walla. For his services in the Civil War he was brevetted in all grades to include brigadier-general in the Regular Army. Following his retirement, he lived an uneventful life at his home in New York City, until his death at the age of seventy-nine.
Hatch was President of the Aztec Club of 1847 of New York and a member of the Oswego County Historical Society.
In 1851, Hatch married Adelaide Goldsmith Burckle, daughter of Christian J. Burckle of Oswego.
