Early Life and The Civil War
Porter was born in Paris, Tennessee, the son of Dr. Thomas Kennedy Porter and Geraldine Horton Porter. He attended the University of Nashville, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1846, and a Master of Arts in 1849. He studied law under Paris attorney John Dunlap (his future father-in-law), and was admitted to the bar in 1851.
Porter was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1859. In 1861, he introduced the "Porter resolutions," which were eventually adopted. These resolutions stipulated that in the event of war between seceding states and the Union, Tennessee would align itself with the seceding states. In early May 1861, following the Battle of Fort Sumter, these measures were enacted, and Tennessee signed a military pact with the Confederacy.
Porter initially served as an adjutant general under Gideon J. Pillow, and helped organize the Provisional Army of Tennessee. After this army was attached to the greater Confederate Army, Porter was assigned to General Benjamin F. Cheatham. As Cheatham's chief of staff, Porter took part in the battles of Belmont, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and the Siege of Atlanta.
After the war, Porter returned to his law practice in Paris. In 1870, he was a delegate to the state's constitutional convention, which wrote the current Tennessee State Constitution, and served on the convention's judiciary committee. Following the convention, he was elected judge of the state's 12th circuit. Originally a Whig, he aligned himself with the Democratic Party after the Civil War.
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