Horace Porter (1837-1921) graduated from West Point in 1860 and was skilled enough to rise through the ranks of the Union army to become a brigadier general during the Civil War. Porter also won the Medal of Honor for rallying troops at the Battle of Chickamauga, allowing wagon trains and guns to escape. But Porter is remembered today for his service during the last year of the war, becoming one of the staff members for General Ulysses S. Grant. Porter earned the general’s admiration and ended up being President Grant’s chief of staff. Porter later wrote a captivating account in his memoirs, Campaigning With Grant. In Campaigning With Grant, which relied upon Porter’s use of notes he took in the field at the time, Porter essentially wrote an eyewitness account of the fighting between Lee and Grant. It also gives readers a close-up view of Grant, mentioning his daily routines, personal traits and habits, and what motivated him.
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