Joseph C. Porter - Civil War

Civil War

The Porter brothers enrolled with Colonel Martin E. Green’s Missouri State Guard regiment and participated in the attack on the union Home Guard at Athens; and they later participated in the Confederate attack on Lexington, September 1861. Joseph Porter had no prior military experience, but proved to be a natural leader and was elected a lieutenant colonel (an official commission would come later) in the Missouri State Guard.

Following his participation in the Battle of Pea Ridge in March of 1862, Porter returned home on the orders of General Sterling Price, to raise recruits throughout northeast Missouri. His duties included the establishment of supply drops, weapons, caches and a network of pro-Southern informants.

Throughout Porter’s brief military career, his status as a regular army officer was not fully recognized by his adversaries, particularly Colonel John McNeil. Those serving behind Union lines were not recognized as legal combatants and were threatened with execution if captured.

Though most of his activities were guerrilla operations or harassment, a few battles were fought. On June 17, 1862, near Warren or New Market, in Warren Township, Marion County with 43 mounted men, he captured four men of the Union regiment he found there. The prisoners' weapons and horses taken, then they were paroled on their oath not to take up arms against the Confederacy until exchanged.