James D. Porter

James D. Porter

James Davis Porter (December 7, 1828–May 18, 1912) was an American politician, educator, and soldier. He served as Governor of Tennessee from 1875 to 1879, and was subsequently appointed Assistant Secretary of State during President Grover Cleveland's first administration, and Minister to Chile in Cleveland's second administration. As a state legislator on the eve of the Civil War, Porter introduced the "Porter resolutions," which bound Tennessee to the Confederacy should war be declared. He spent much of the war as General Benjamin F. Cheatham's chief of staff, and saw action at various battles in Tennessee and Georgia.

Porter spent his later years as chancellor of his alma mater, the University of Nashville, and as president of Peabody College, which was established at the University of Nashville during his gubernatorial administration. He oversaw the liquidation and transfer of the University of Nashville's assets to the Peabody Education Fund, which allowed Peabody College to be reestablished near Vanderbilt University in 1909.