OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (POLLOCK PORTER.) 



459 



Pollock, Robert, soldier, born in Philadelphia, 

 Pa., Sept. 17, '1819; died in Cornelius, Ore., Feb. 24, 

 1901. He enlisted as a sergeant of Virginia volun- 

 teers, Jan. 6, 1847; became a 2d lieutenant, May 6; 

 served through the Mexican War; and was mus- 

 tered out July 31, 1848. He became major of the 

 3d California Infantry Sept. 4, 1861, and was 

 made lieutenant-colonel Dec. 12, 1861; colonel, 

 March 29, 1863; and was mustered out Nov. 14, 



1864. He was then made lieutenant-colonel of the 

 2d California Infantry, Jan. 7, 1865, and served 

 till June 23, 1866. He was brevetted, March 13, 



1865, colonel of volunteers for faithful service dur- 

 ing the war. He was appointed 1st lieutenant, 

 32d Infantry, July 28, 1866; transferred to 21st 

 Infantry, April 19, 1869; commissioned captain, 

 Feb. 19, 1873; and retired Sept. 17, 1883. He was 

 brevetted major, Feb. 27, 1890, for marked bra- 

 very and gallant services against the Indians at 

 the Clearwater, Idaho, July 11 and 12, 1877. 



Ponisi, James, actor, born in England in 1819; 

 died in New York city, Sept. 12, 1901. After con- 

 siderable experience in the London theaters dur- 

 ing his early manhood, he came to America in 

 1851, and made his first appearance in Buffalo, 

 N. Y. He played throughout the United States, 

 supporting Joseph Jefferson for a time, and during 

 another period acting as business manager for the 

 elder Sothern, who was then playing Lord Dun- 

 dreary. Mr. Ponisi retired from the stage about 

 1881. His first wife was known as Mme. Po- 

 nisi, a distinguished member of Wallack's Theater 

 Company. They were divorced, and he afterward 

 married an American who was not connected 

 with the theatrical profession. 



Porter, Fitz John, soldier, born in Ports- 

 mouth, N. H., June 13, 1822; died in Morristown, 

 N. J., May 21, 1901. He was graduated at West 

 Point in 1845, and assigned to the 4th Artillery 

 as brevet 2d lieutenant; 

 he was promoted 2d lieu- 

 tenant, June 18, 1846; 

 1st lieutenant, May 29, 

 1847; colonel, 15th In- 

 fantry, May 14, 1861; 

 cashiered, Jan. 21, 1863; 

 restored to duty as colo- 

 nel of infantry, Aug. 5, 

 1886, to rank from May 

 14,1861; and retired Aug. 

 7, 1886. In the volun- 

 teer service he was ap- 

 pointed brigadier-gener- 

 al, May 7, 1861; major- 

 general, July 4, 1862. In 

 the Mexican War he was 

 brevetted captain, Sept. 

 8, 1847, for services at Molino del Rey, and 

 major, Sept. 13, 1847, for Chapultepec. He 

 was on garrison duty till July 9, 1849, when he 

 was appointed assistant instructor of artillery at 

 West Point; he served there successively as assist- 

 ant instructor in natural and experimental phi- 

 losophy, adjutant of the Military Academy, and 

 instructor of artillery and cavalry till 1855. In 

 1857-'60 he served under Gen. Johnston in the 

 Utah expedition. In 1860 he became assistant 

 inspector-general, with headquarters in New York 

 city. In April, 1861, he was on duty in the adju- 

 tant-general's office in Washington; he superin- 

 tended the protection of the railroad between Bal- 

 timore and Harrisburg during the Baltimore riots. 

 As brigadier-general of volunteers he was as- 

 signed for a time to duty in Washington. In 

 1862 he participated in the Peninsular campaign, 

 and after the evacuation of Yorktown, May 4, 

 was Governor of that place for a brief period. He 



commanded the 5th Army ('orj)s at the kittles of 

 Mechanicsville, June ^(i;" Gaino. Mill June 27- 

 and Malvern Hill, July 1, lsi:i. !1 was bievetted 

 brigadier-general in the regular arm;/ lor gallant 

 conduct at Chickahorniny. As major-general of 

 volunteers he was temporarily at1aciic<t to (Jen. 

 Pope's Army of Virginia. On the lir.-t <i;iy <>\ the 

 second battle of Bull Run his corps, tnouo'i or- 

 dered to advance, was unable to do so, but the 

 next day was actively engaged. Charges of inae- 

 tion were brought against him, and he was de- 

 prived of his command. At the request of Gen, 

 McClellan he was restored, and took part in the 

 Maryland campaign. Nov. 27, 1862, he was ar- 

 raigned before a court-martial in Washington, 

 and after a two months' trial was cashiered, Jan. 

 21, 1863. The justice of the verdict was the sub- 

 ject of much controversy. He made numerous ap- 

 peals for its reversal, and on May 4, 1882, the 

 President remitted so much of the sentence as 

 disqualified him from holding office under the 

 Government. Subsequently a bill for his relief 

 was passed by Congress and he was restored to 

 the United States army as colonel, Aug. 5, 1886, 

 and retired two days later. In 1864-'65 he super- 

 intended mining operations in Colorado. Later 

 for several years he was in business in New York 

 city. From 1872 till 1875 he was superintendent 

 of the New Jersey State Insane Asylum; from 

 1875 till 1877 he was commissioner of public 

 works in New York city; from 1877 till 1882 he 

 was assistant receiver of the Central Railroad of 

 New Jersey. He was police commissioner of 

 New York city from 1884 till 1888, and fire com- 

 missioner for a year. He was cashier of the New 

 York post-office in 1893-'97. 



Porter, Samuel, educator, born in Farmington, 

 Conn., Jan. 12, 1810; died there, Sept. 2, 1901. 

 He was a son of Dr. Noah Porter, and was gradu- 

 ated at Yale in 1829. In 1832-'36 and in 1846- 

 '66 he was instructor of the deaf and dumb in the 

 Hartford institution. He taught in the New York 

 institution from 1843 to 1846, and from 1854 to 

 1860 he was editor of the American Annals of the 

 Deaf and Dumb. In 1866 he became Professor of 

 Mental Science and English Philology in Gallau- 

 det College, and in 1884 he was retired as pro- 

 fessor emeritus. He was the author of the Guide 

 to Pronunciation prefixed to Webster's Interna- 

 tional Dictionary, of papers read before the Amer- 

 ican Philological Association, and of articles in 

 magazines. 



Porter, Thomas Conrad, educator, born in 

 Alexandria, Pa., Jan. 22, 1822; died in Easton, 

 Pa., April 27, 1901. He was graduated at Lafay- 

 ette College in 1840, and at Princeton Theological 

 Seminary in 1843, and was a missionary in Geor- 

 gia till Nov. 14, 1848, when he was made pastor of 

 the Second German Reformed Church, Reading, 

 Pa. The following year he became Professor of 

 the Natural Sciences in Marshall College; and 

 when that college united with Franklin College he 

 held the same chair till 1866, when he became Pro- 

 fessor of Botany, Zoology, and General Geology in 

 Lafayette College. On Jan. 1, 1897, he was made 

 professor emeritus, curator of the botanical collec- 

 tions, and dean of Pardee Scientific School. He 

 served as pastor of the Third Street Reformed 

 Church, Easton, Pa., from 1877 to 1888. Rutgers 

 conferred upon him the degree of D. D. in 1865, 

 and Franklin and Marshall that of LL. D. in 1880. 

 He worked over the Hayden botanical collections 

 made in the Rocky mountains in 1870 to 1874, 

 and his collection of the flora of Pennsylvania is 

 the largest and most complete in existence. His 

 name was given to a genus of plants (Portcran- 

 thus) belonging to the rose family, of which there 



