Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

When the Confederates were driven up the Valley he was placed at Strasburg in charge of the wounded on both sides, and after the battle of Cross Keys, Va., he . established a general hos- pital for the Germans of General Blenker's divis- ion. On the 1 2th of June he was transferred to the general hospital at Winchester, Va., and on the 1st of July was assigned to Best's battery, 330 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. with which he served during the summer of 1862. He was present at the battle of Cedar Mountain, the combats along the Rappa- hannock, the second battle of Bull Run, and the battle of South Mountain, and on July 17, 1862, he was commissioned assistant-surgeon U. S. Army, with the rank of first lieutenant. He served in the general hospital at Braddocks Bar- racks, Frederick, Md., from September 17 to No- vember 18, 1862, and was then ordered to join the Army of the Potomac at Falmouth, Va. , assigned to the Fifth Cavalry, and served with this regi- ment until May 10, 1864. He was present at the battles of Fredericksburg, Beverly I^ord, Gett)'s- burg. Brandy Station, Todd's Tavern, Flem- miug's Cross Roads, Manassas Gap, Ivelly's Ford, ^liddleton, Upperville, \\^illiamsport, Boons- boro (where he was wounded in the left arm), Funkston, Falling Waters, Beaver Dam, War- renton, Ashby's Gap, Front Royal, Culpeper Court House and Morton's Ford. By order of the War Department Doctor Por- ter was relieved from duty April 29, 1864, and ordered to report at Washington; but as the Army of the Potomac had severed its connection with the railroad before the order was received, and for a time had no communication with the capital, he served with his regiment in the Wilder- ness campaign. After the battles of the Wilder- ness he remained with the wounded at Freder- icksburg for a few days, and was then sent to Belle Plain in charge of the first train of wound- ed, whence he proceeded with dispatches to Washington. The Doctor often performed important surgi- cal operations on the field and under heavy fire, and in referring to his services with the Fifth U. S. Cavalry Capt. Julius Mason, U. S. A., addressed the board of officers on staff brevets as follows: " During this time the regiment was en- gaged in many battles, losing heavily in sick and wounded. Assistant-Surgeon Porter's faithful- ness to the sick and wounded is gratefully re- membered by the officers and men, and his conspicuous gallantry during the battles of Up- perville, Aldie, Gettysburg, Williamsburg, Funks- town and Brandy Station, where he took the dead and wounded almost from the hands of the enemy, entitles him to the greatest praise and consideration. He was under my command dur- ing all the above named battles, and, for his gal- lant conduct and faithful and intelligent services, he is justly entitled to a brevet captaincy and a brevet majority." Doctor Porter was post surgeon at Washington Arsenal from May, 1864, to May, 1867; was the only commissioned officer present when the body of John Wilkes Booth was secreted; had medical charge of the conspirators against President Lin- coln, imprisoned at the old penitentiary building; was present at the hanging of four of them, and accompanied the others to Tortugas. He was brevetted captain and major March 13, 1865, for faithful, gallant and meritoricjus service in the field during the war of the Rebellion. In May, 1867, he was ordered to report at St. Paul, Minn., and was assigned to duty at Camp Cook, Montana, where he reported on the 27th of August following. During the spring of 1868 he served with an expedition to the mouth of the Musselshell river, and during April and May, in addition to his medical duties, he did volunteer service as "officer of the day," to relieve the line officers, who were greatly overworked by the constant presence of hostile Indians under the command of Sitting Bull. Doctor Porter ten- dered his resignation, to take effect July 18, 1868; but as no medical officer had then reported he continued on duty until the arrival of his succes- sor, when he crossed the continent on horseback alone, over the Lewis and Clark trail, returning to the Eastern States by the Isthmus route. Since October, 1868, he has been in general practice at Bridgeport, and during that time he has served in the State National Guard for seven years, four years as surgeon of the Fourth Regiment, and three as medical director upon the staff of Gen. Thomas L. Watson, the commanding general. Doctor Porter is a member of the Bridgeport Medical Association, president in 1867-77; of the Fairfield Medical Association, president in 1882; of the Connecticut Medical Society, presi- dent in 1888-89; of the American Medical As- sociation, member of the judicial council 1891-94; of the American Academy of Medicine; of the Ninth International Medical Congress, vice-presi- dent of the section on military surgery, 1887;, president of the board of health of Bridgeport, 1882-83; director and consulting physician of the Bridgeport Hospital; member of the military order of the Royal Legion; of the thirty-third degree of the Masonic Fraternity; of the Grand Army of the Republic'; of the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut; of the Oquosoc Angling Association; of the Metabetchonan, the Bostonnais and the Island Brook fishing and game clubs; of the Young Men's Christian Association; of the Sea Side Club; of the Algonquin and Eclectic Clubs; and of the Bridgeport Scientific Society; also of the Army and Navy Club of New York, and of the New York Athletic Club. He has been visiting physician of the Hartford Retreat since 1880; was president of the Bridgeport Library Associa- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 33 1 tion in 1879, and is medical examiner for many life insurance companies and benefit organiza- tions. In 1882 Doctor Porter published in the "New England Medical Monthly" a " Report of a Case of Xanthic Oxide Calculus," the only specimen ever recognized in this country, and the eighth on record; half of the specimen has been deposited in the Army Medical Museum at Washington, and the remainder in the Pathologi- cal Museum of Jefferson Medical College. He is also the author of papers on "A New Danger in Surgery, " in 1884; " Tubal Pregnancy," 1883; "The Cost of Sickness to the Individual and to the State," president's address Connecticut Medi- cal Society, 1889; "The Medical Practice Act in Connecticut," an address to the Connecticut Legislature, April, 1893; "The Recognition of Death," 1875; and "The Wave Theory, its Ap- plication in Sickness," 1876. He began the dis- cussion on suspended animation which resulted in the passage of the present Medical Examiners law of Connecticut in 1882, and delivered the inaugural address at the dedication of the Surgi- cal building of the Bridgeport Hospital. In 1862 Doctor Porter married Miss Catherine Marie Chaffee, daughter of Edwin M. Chaffee, of Providence, R. I., the inventor of the Chaffee Cylinder for vulcanizing rubber. Twelve chil- dren have brightened their home, viz.: Clara Elizabeth, George, James Benton, Ethel, Lind- say, May, Alice, Aaron, Hugh, Grace, Anna and Clarissa. C\ S. MEAD, M. D., a prominent physician of ^^ Port Chester, N. Y. , is a member of one of the oldest and most highly esteemed families of this county, and his biography is appropriately inserted in this volume. The Doctor is of the eighth generation in direct descent from John Mead [other authorities say William], the noted pioneer of Fairfield county, the line of descent being traced as fol- lows: Through John, a son of the pioneer, Ebenezer ( i ), Ebenezer (2), Deliverance, Ephraim, and Isaac Howe Mead, our subject's father. The name has always been associated with a high order of citizenship, and at various times members of the family have intermarried with other prominent clans, including the Howes and Waterburys, descendants of early settlers in Stamford and Greenwich. The Mead family furnished many gallant soldiers to the cause of freedom during the trying period of the Revolu- tionary war, and the Howes were represented in the same struggle by Capt. Isaac Howe, who was born January 9, 171 1, and served under Washington as captain of the 13th Company, 9th Regiment, of the Connecticut troops. An- other of our subject's ancestors, Lieut. David Waterbury, was an officer in the Colonial army during King Philip's war. Doctor Mead was born February 19, 1859, at Indian Field, in the town of Greenwich, upon the homestead which had been in the possession of his ancestors for several generations. His par- ents, Isaac Howe and Mary E. Mead, reared a family of six sons, of whom our subject was the third in order of birth, and all are now occupy- ing honorable positions in life. Ephraim is a resident of Greenwich; Willard H. conducts a ranch in Wyoming; Spencer P. is in the em- ploy of the Standard Oil Company in New York City; Thomas M. is engaged in farming in the town of Greenwich; and Amos H. is in business in Greenwich village. As more complete ac- counts of the family are given elsewhere in this book, we will pass on to the personal history of our subject.