Mr. P.B. Porter's Speech on Internal Improvements. Delivered in the House of Representatives on the Eighth February, 1810
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Peter Buell Porter was an American lawyer, soldier and politician.
Background
He was born on August 14, 1773 at Salisbury, Connecticut, United States, the son of Col. Joshua Porter and Abigail Buell and a descendant of John Porter who settled in Dorchester, Massachussets, in 1630, and later moved to Windsor, Connecticut.
Education
After his graduation from Yale in 1791 he studied law at the noted law school of Judge Reeve in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Career
Moving to Canandaigua, New York, in 1795, he practised law in that frontier community. In 1797 he was appointed clerk of Ontario County, then embracing all of western New York, and held this position until 1805, when he was removed by Gov. Morgan Lewis because of his identification with the Burr faction of the Republican party. Meanwhile he had been elected to the state legislature in 1801 and had served one term.
In 1810 he removed to Black Rock on the Niagara River within the present limits of Buffalo, and from this time on his name is closely associated with the development of that locality. He became a member of the firm of Porter, Barton & Company, which acquired a monopoly of the transportation business on the portage between Lewiston below the falls and Schlosser above. In the spring of 1810 the New York legislature appointed him a member of a commission on inland navigation for the purpose of surveying a canal route from Lake Erie to the Hudson.
He did not seek reelection in 1812, preferring to enter the military service. As quartermaster-general of New York he served both militia and regulars on the New York frontier from May to October 1812, when he was succeeded by a deputy quartermaster of the United States army. In December 1812 he was serving as a volunteer with the army commanded by Gen. Alexander Smyth, and his harsh criticism of that officer resulted in a bloodless duel.
In the summer of 1813 he was authorized by the War Department to raise and command a brigade of militia or volunteers, and in October of the same year, at his request, he was instructed to incorporate with them a "corps" of Six Nations Indians. The Indians responded readily to Porter's persuasions and to a "talk" sent them by Secretary of War Armstrong, and in the campaigns of 1814 Porter commanded about six hundred of these in addition to about the same number of volunteer militia from Pennsylvania and New York. At the engagements of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie his brigade was well handled.
Porter had been reelected to Congress in 1814. He resigned in January 1816, served for a year as secretary of state of New York, and in 1817 was defeated for the governorship by De Witt Clinton. In the meantime he had accepted an appointment as commissioner of the United States under the sixth and seventh articles of the Treaty of Ghent to determine the international boundary from the St. Lawrence River to the Lake of the Woods.
In May 1828, at Clay's suggestion, President Adams appointed Porter secretary of war. He took the oath of office June 21 and served until March 3, 1829. His chief problem as secretary of war was with the Indians of the Eastern states.
The remainder of Porter's life was devoted to his private affairs. He kept up his interest in politics, however, was a close friend and frequent correspondent of Henry Clay, and in 1840 was a Whig presidential elector. His later years were spent at Niagara Falls, where he and his brother, Augustus Porter, had visioned something of the water power development of the future, and there he died, March 20, 1844.
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Politics
Before 1825 he was Democratic-Republican, then from 1825 to1834 -
National Republican. Finally from 1834 he suppotred the Whig party.
He was an unsuccessful advocate of grants of public land in aid of roads and canals.
During the War of 1812 Porter was a leader of the "war hawks" and chairman of the committee which recommended preparation for war with the conquest of Canada as chief objective.
Personality
He is described by contemporaries as a man of commanding personality, a dashing figure on horseback, a keen thinker and polished speaker, though he had the reputation of being too much devoted to the advancement of his personal fortunes.
Connections
In 1818, Porter married Letitia Breckinridge (1786–1831), the daughter of John Breckinridge. Through her first marriage, she had a son, John Breckinridge Grayson (1806–1862). Together, Peter and Letitia had two children.