Portus Baxter
Encyclopedia
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Early life
Baxter was born in Brownington, VermontBrownington, Vermont
Brownington is a town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 885 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 28.4 square miles , of which 28.3 square miles is land and 0.1 square mile is...
, the son of William and Lydia (Ashley) Baxter. After attending local schools, he completed his education at Norwich Military Academy
Norwich University
Norwich University is a private university located in Northfield, Vermont . The university was founded in 1819 at Norwich, Vermont, as the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy. It is the oldest of six Senior Military Colleges, and is recognized by the United States Department of...
and the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
in Burlington
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
. He moved to Derby Line, Vermont
Derby Line, Vermont
Derby Line is an incorporated village in the town of Derby in Orleans County, Vermont, United States, slightly north of the 45th parallel, the normal U.S.-Canadian boundary...
in 1828 where he engaged agricultural and mercantile pursuits, which took him down the Connecticut River valley and into Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He was one of the original incorporators of the Connecticut and Pssumpsic Rivers Railroad, which was planned to almost the entire length of the state on the eastern border.
Politics
He became interested in politics early in his career. Baxter served as Orleans County Assistant Judge from 1846 to 1847. He was the only WhigWhig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
delegate from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
who supported Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...
for president in 1848. He also strongly supported Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....
in his unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1852. Switching parties, he was a presidential elector for John Fremont in 1856.
In 1860, after many years of urging, he finally ran for Congress, was successful and eventually served three terms, from March 4, 1861 to March 3, 1867, in the 37th, 38th, and 39th Congresses. During the 38th Congress, he chaired the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy. He also served on committees of elections and agriculture.
Civil War
Baxter's time in Congress coincided with the four years of the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and he was such a proponent of Vermont soldiers he earned the nickname, 'the soldier's friend.' One Vermonter's letters document instances where Mrs. Baxter, and other wives and daughters of Vermont's Congressional contingent, were strong supports of the efforts of the Christian Commission. Baxter also frequently visited the regiments in the area immediately surrounding Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, watching out for a son who had joined the 11th Vermont Infantry, and sponsoring others in their efforts to get promoted. During the bloody Battle of the Wilderness
Battle of the Wilderness
The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by...
in May 1864, Baxter and his wife spent so much time in the hospitals in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
, tending to wounded soldiers, that they themselves suffered from exhaustion and eventually had to leave to recuperate. Baxter had eight children, of whom three served in the Civil War, Myron and Jedediah were surgeons, and Henry, originally a private, but eventually promoted to captain with a wartime brevet to major.
Post-War
He remained in Washington, D.C. after completing his last term, and almost exactly a year later, died of pneumonia after only a few days' illness. He had, however, suffered from asthma for several years. His remains were returned to the Green Mountain State, and he was laid to rest in the village cemetery at Strafford, VermontStrafford, Vermont
Strafford is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,045 at the 2000 census. The town of Strafford was created on August 12, 1761 by way of a royal charter which King George III of England issued to Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire...
.
Family
His wife, Ellen Jannette Harris (1811–1882), daughter of Judge Harris of Strafford, whom he married on June 19, 1832, survived him by fourteen years. They had three sons: Dr. Jedediah Baxter, Dr. Leslie Baxter and Henry Baxter.Further reading
- "Baxter, Portus (1806-1868)," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present, sited August 13, 2006, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000246
- Crockett, Walter Hill. Vermont The Green Mountain State, The Century History Company, Inc., New York, 1921, iii:272, 366, 368, 402, 412, 431, 490, 551, 573, 615, iv:3, 28-29.
- Dodge, Prentiss C., Encyclopedia Vermont Biography, Burlington, VT: Ullery Publishing Company, 1912, p. 74
- Ullery, Jacob G., compiler, Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont, Brattleboro, VT: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, Part I, p. 156
External links
- Vermont in the Civil War
- Portus Baxter's biography from the Vermont Historical Gazetteer