was Robert Porter, who emigrated from Lon- | ice." Captain Porter was next connected with donderry, Ireland, in 1720, and settled in the James Island expedition, and during the Londonderry, N. H., afterward buying land in assault on Secessionville, S. C., was wounded Montgomery County, Pa. His son, Andrew in the hand by a piece of shell. In July, 1862, Porter, the grandfather of Horace Porter, was he was made chief of ordnance of the Army of a man of great distinction in both State and the Potomac under General McClellan; joined military affairs. He early manifested talent his new command at Harrison's Landing, on for mathematics, and under the advice of Dr. James River, and superintended the military David Rittenhouse opened, in 1767, an English transfer into Maryland. After the battle of and mathematical school in Philadelphia. On Antietam, 29 Sept., 1862, he was made chief the outbreak of the Revolution he was ap- of ordnance of the Army of the Ohio; on 28 pointed, by Congress, a captain of the marines; Jan., 1863, became chief of ordnance of the was transferred later to the artillery, where Army of the Cumberland; and 13 March was he was advanced through various promotions appointed as captain, and, until November, ento the rank of colonel of the Fourth Pennsyl- gaged in general staff duty on the field. At vania Artillery, and held this command to the the battle of Chickamauga, 19 and 20 Sept., close of the war. In 1773 he declined the 1863, Captain Porter won particular distincchair of mathematics at the University of tion. With 500 men, and without orders, he Pennsylvania, and in 1812, on account of the rode to the top of a hill that was partly infirmities of old age, declined the offices of screened by underbrush, and by keeping up a brigadier-general of the U. S. army, and of rapid fire, to give the impression of a much Secretary of War in President Monroe's Cabi- larger force, delayed the enemy for at least net. Gov. David R. Porter lived in Har- twenty minutes, so that a number of guns and risburg, Pa., during his tenure of office, and provision wagons were saved for the forces of his son Horace there obtained his early educa- General Rosecrans, of whose staff Captain Portion. Later he attended school in Lawrence- ter was a member. Nearly all of his men were ville, N. J., preparatory to entering Princeton killed or wounded, and he himself was wounded University; but having decided upon a mili- by a fragment of a shell, but was the last to tary career, he entered the Lawrence Scientific leave the hill. For his conspicuous gallantry School of Harvard University in 1854. He was and initiative on this occasion Captain Porter appointed to West Point a year later, being received the Congressional Medal of Honor. graduated 1 July, 1860, in a class that was He was next assigned to duty at Chattanooga one of the only two that ever passed through a | under General Thomas, who succeeded General five-year term. He was third in rank among Rosecrans as head of the Army of the Cumforty-one classmates, many of whom later be- berland. Here he first met General Grant, came famous in military life. Horace Porter upon whom he made such an excellent impreswas unusually well equipped by nature and sion that the general shortly afterward wrote training for a successful career and his educa- to Washington asking for the appointment of tion was completed just at the time when his the young officer as brigadier-general in his country stood most in need of his services. own military division. When General Grant From his grandfather he had inherited a math- was made lieutenant-general of all the armies, ematical turn of mind as well as a preference he appointed Captain Porter an aide-de-camp for military life, and when a boy had become upon his staff with the rank of lieutenantthoroughly acquainted with machinery in his colonel, the appointment dating April, 1864. father's iron works. He early manifested In this capacity he served with General Grant great inventive genius and invented a water- in the field through the Wilderness and Peterstest for boiling water, which was successfully burg campaigns, and until the end of the war. employed in his father's furnaces. He is also At the battle of the Wilderness, he was brethe inventor of the ticket-canceling boxes in vetted major, "for gallant and meritorious use on the subway and elevated stations in service." During the four years of his miliNew York City. This peculiar mental com- tary career he was promoted five times, always bination of mechanical and military tendencies for " gallant and meritorious military servstrongly biased General Porter in the selection ice" in the field. After the explosion of the of his arm of service, and he adopted the mine at Petersburg, when General Grant went ordnance, being appointed to a brevet second to the front on foot to order the withdrawal lieutenant, 1 July, 1861. He remained at of the assaulting columns, he took with him West Point as inspector for the next three only one aide-de-camp, Colonel Porter. months, and then joined the expedition against gether they climbed over the obstructions, Port Royal under General Sherman and Ad- passed through the artillery fire of the enemy, miral Dupont. Later he received his appoint- and successfully executed this heroic act which ment as first lieutenant of ordnance, and in they would not have asked of any private. On the next year acted as assistant ordnance 16 Aug., 1864, Colonel Porter was brevetted officer at Hilton Head, afterward engaging as lieutenant-colonel of the U. S. army, and in chief of ordnance and artillery, in the erection February, 1865, he was made brigadier-general of batteries at Tybee Island, Ga., for the reduc- of volunteers. He was present with Grant at tion of Fort Pulaski. During the ensuing siege, the capitulation of Lee at Appomattox Court which occurred 10 and 11 April, 1862, Lieu- House, and in recognition of his services was tenant Porter was breveted captain, his com- presented by General Grant with the headmission having been granted "for gallant and quarters flag used on that occasion. On 13 meritorious services at the siege of Fort March, 1865, he was brevetted a brigadierPulaski." He was also presented with a general of the U. S. army. At the close of the sword captured from an officer of the enemy, war General Porter remained with General bearing Captain Porter's name and the in- Grant at headquarters at Washington. His scription, "For gallant and meritorious serv-relations with General Grant continued to be

To

the "

very close, and on occasions when Grant was | Atlantic. The place of his burial remained a present at receptions given in his honor, Gen-mystery, not to be solved for more than 100 eral Porter always responded in behalf of his years. The account of General Porter's long old commander to the toasts and addresses search reads like a modern detective novel. made complimentary to him. On these occa- His first task was to find some record of the sions General Grant found a brilliant substi- burial. This had undoubtedly been registered, tute in General Porter, whose eloquence and but the register, which had been housed in an wit as an orator rank him among the great annex of the Hotel de Ville, was burned durafter-dinner speakers of the country, such as ing the days of the Commune, in 1871. The Joseph H. Choate, Chauncey M. Depew, James elder Dumas, in his romance The Pioneer," T. Brady, William M. Evarts, Richard O'Gor-indicates that John Paul Jones was buried in man, Ogden Hoffman, and John Van Buren. Apropos of his ability as an orator is the following anecdote: Joseph H. Choate, in concluding one of his brilliant speeches at a dinner at which both General Porter and Chauncey M. Depew were present, extended to them a greeting that was warmly applauded: I am sure,' he said, his face beaming with delight, you would not allow me to quit this pleasing program if I did not felicitate you upon the presence of two other gentlemen without whom no banquet is ever complete. I mean, of course, General Porter and Mr. Depew. Their splendid efforts on a thousand fields like this have fairly won their golden spurs.' At the close of Grant's first administration, in 1873, General Porter retired from active military life. He had been engaged in inspection of army posts from 1866; as Assistant Secretary of War, in 1868; and as private secretary charged with private business during Grant's term of office. General Porter later entered business life as vicepresident of the Pullman Palace Car Company. This connection brought him into contact with the promoters of the West Shore Railroad, and he became its first president, in 1883. He was also associated with a number of other large ventures and was recognized as a powerful element in important financial operations. He became the first president of the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad Company; president of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway Company; director in the Atlantic and Pacific Railway; Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway; Oregon Railway and Navigation Company; Ontario and Western Railroad; Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad; the U. S. Guarantee Company; Equitable Life Assurance Company; Land and Improvement Company; and the Continental National Bank. General Porter was not content to rest with his reputation as an army officer and a financier, but rendered important public service in many ways. He personally collected the necessary funds, amounting to $600,000, for the erection of Grant's Tomb, in Riverside Drive, New York City. He spent $35,000 of his own money and the greater part of six years in France in locating and bringing to the United States the body of John Paul Jones, receiving for his services, by unanimous vote, the thanks of Congress and the privilege of the floor of both Houses for life. The remarkable search which ultimately resulted in the finding of the body of John Paul Jones, not improperly considered the father of the U. S. Navy, was begun in June, 1899. The admiral had died in Paris, 18 July, 1792, during the most turbulent days of the French Revolution, which may, in a measure, account for the little interest that was taken in the event on this side of the

the Peré Lachaise Cemetery. An examination
of the old register of this cemetery soon proved
that this statement was really not more than
it pretended to be-fiction. An examination
of the registers of other cemeteries which had
existed at the time of Paul Jones' death
proved equally unavailing. The first promis-
ing clew that presented itself was an article
in an old antiquarian magazine, written by
Charles Read, an archeologist, who quoted
what he declared was a copy of the registra-
tion of the burial which had been burned with
the Hotel de Ville. This stated that John
Paul Jones had been buried in the cemetery
for foreign Protestants. Mr. Read added his
personal opinion that this must have been the
Cemetery of St. Louis, since the word
would indicate only one such a cemetery, and
the Dutch ambassador had requested the
French government that the Cemetery of St.
Louis be reserved for this purpose. An in-
vestigation of all old records bearing even
indirectly on this point finally convinced Gen-
eral Porter that Mr. Read's opinion had been
based on sound logic. But the Cemetery of
St. Louis had been closed in 1793, within six
months after John Paul Jones' burial there.
The space it had once covered was now in a
very unpleasant quarter of the city, one of the
slums, in fact, on which stood a block of build-
ings of inferior class, the neighborhood being
known as "Le Combat," from having been
formerly the scene of dog and cock fights.
Old plans of that section of the city were
next consulted and the ancient boundaries of
the cemetery were defined with some accuracy.
From letters written at the time of John Paul
Jones' death to his sister, by a friend who
was with him during his last moments, it was
known that he had been buried in a lead cof-
fin, at the expense of a French police official.
Thus there was hope that there might remain
some means to identifying the remains.
eral Porter now proposed to tunnel the old
site of the cemetery, under the houses. After
a delay of two years, on account of the ex-
orbitant prices demanded by the house owners,
this work was finally begun, under the super-
vision of M. Paul Weiss, a member of the
Paris municipal engineers, assigned to the
work by the mayor. Several shafts were sunk,
then began the tunneling, back and forth.
That there had been no mistake in the loca-
tion was indicated by the heaps of bones that
were unearthed. On 22 Feb., 1906, the work-
men unearthed a lead coffin, the first of five
that were discovered during the operations.
The copper plate fastened to this coffin, how-
ever, proved its occupant to have been one
Richard Hay. The second lead coffin also
contained unmistakable proofs that the end of
the search was not yet. On 31 March, the
third lead coffin was discovered. This bore

Gen

no plate, or any other outer means of identi- "Gold Medal for Patriotism"; in 1904 the fication. It was, therefore, removed from the French government conferred upon him tunnels and opened. A powerful smell of the " Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor," the alcohol escaped through the first aperture that first time it was ever awarded to an American. was made, and as the work proceeded it was While in Paris, General Porter delivered a obvious that the body had been preserved in number of notable orations in the French lanspirits, a custom by no means uncommon in guage. In 1907 he was appointed delegate, those days. Finally the body was entirely un- with the rank of ambassador, to the Second covered, except for the winding sheet. When Hague Peace Conference, where he succeeded this was removed from the features of the in having adopted by the nations the " Propcorpse, the crowd of spectators gasped, for not osition Porter," which prohibited the colleconly were they in a wonderful state of preser- tion by force of arms of contract debts, claimed vation, but those present who were acquainted to be due from one government to the citizens with the appearance of John Paul Jones, of another government, and he compelled rethrough portraits and busts, had no difficulty sort to peaceful arbitration. General Porter in recognizing him. All the tests that science is a fluent writer, a lover of books, and an was able to apply were now brought into accomplished linguist. He is the author of requisition. An autopsy showed unmistakable" West Point Life" (1866); Campaigning signs of the disease from which John Paul with Grant" (1898), and has contributed Jones had died; not only that, the lungs still many articles of interest to the newspapers bore scars of pneumonia, and it was known and periodicals of the country. He is a memthat he had suffered from pneumonia while in ber of many prominent military and social the Russian service, and that he had been com- organizations; is president of the Grant Monupelled to leave Russia on that account. On ment Association, Union League Club, Society of 20 April, the body was carefully restored to the Army of the Potomac, Association of West its lead coffin, which was placed in a second | Point Graduates, U. S. Navy League, National and a larger lead coffin, then placed in the Society of the Sons of the American Revoluvaults of the American Church of the Holy tion; vice-president of the International Law Trinity, to await the disposition of the Ameri- Association, and honorary member of the Socan government. On receipt of the reports ciety of the Cincinnati; a member of the New President Roosevelt immediately sent a battle- York State Bar Association; New York Chamship squadron to bring the body home, there ber of Commerce; Society of Foreign Wars; to be interred in the crypt of the new chapel | Literary Society of Princeton University; the of the Naval Academy, at Annapolis. A Metropolitan, Century, University, Authors', French fleet welcomed the American squadron. Lotus, and other clubs; is commander of the With magnificent and impressive ceremonies, George Washington Post of the G. A. R., and participated in by the French government, the the Military Order of the Loyal Legion; and body was brought aboard the American battle- is a patron of the Metropolitan Museum of ship, and so carried across the ocean under Art and the American Museum of Natural the flag which John Paul Jones had been the History, New York City. He has received the first to fly from the gaff of any warship. degree of LL.D. from Williams College, and Included among the many historical occa- | from Union, Princeton, and Harvard Universisions upon which General Porter has been ties. On 23 Dec., 1863, General Porter marorator was, the inauguration of the Washing-ried Sophie K., daughter of John McHarg, of ton Arch, New York, 1895; dedication of Albany, N. Y. They had three sons and one Grant's Tomb, April, 1897; inauguration of the daughter, of whom two, Clarence and Elsie Rochambeau Statue, Washington, D. C., May, Porter, survive. 1902; centennial of the foundation of West FRICK, Henry Clay, b in West Overton, Pa, Point Military Academy, June, 1902; inter- 19 Dec., 1849, son of John Wilson and Elizament of the body of John Paul Jones at An- beth (Overholt) Frick. His earliest American napolis, April, 1906; unveiling of the statue ancestor came from Switzerland in 1750, setof General Sheridan, in Washington, D. C., tling in western Pennsylvania. The line of November, 1909; memorial services in Brook- descent is then traced through his son, George lyn, N. Y., upon the death of General Sher- Frick, who established himself on a farm in man; unveiling of the bust of General Han- that region; his son, Daniel Frick, b. in 1796, cock; unveiling of the Grant Equestrian who married Catherine Miller in 1819; and Statue in Brooklyn; and the laying of the their son, John W. Frick, b. in 1822, who was Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial at Pittsburgh, the father of the subject of this review. His Pa., General Porter has held many positions mother was of German ancestry, the daughter of public trust. In 1892 he was delegate to the of Abraham Overholt, a landowner and a leadNational Republican Nominating Convention, ing miller and distiller in western Pennsylmaking the speech nominating Whitelaw Reid vania.. Henry Clay Frick early gave evidence for vice-president. In November, 1897, Gen- of the earnestness of purpose that distinguished eral Porter organized the "sound money his subsequent career, At the age of ten he parade in New York City, and on this occasion is found attending the district school and, durmarched at the head of a column of 135,000 ing the summer holidays, gathering sheaves in citizens. He also commanded the inaugural the wheatfield and performing other light parade in Washington, D. C., on the occasion of McKinley's first inauguration. He was appointed U. S. ambassador to France in 1897, and served until 1905. For several years also he was honorary president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris. In 1901 the Sultan of Turkey bestowed upon him the

chores on the farm, thereby earning sufficient money to buy his clothes for the ensuing year. At the age of fourteen he began his phenomenal business career as a clerk in a country store at Mount Pleasant, Pa., conducted by Overholt, Shallenberger and Company. At nineteen, he left the store to become book