Portus Baxter

Portus Baxter
Member of the
United States House of Representatives
from Vermont's 3rd district
In office
March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1867
Preceded by Homer Elihu Royce
Succeeded by Worthington Curtis Smith
Personal details
Born (1806-12-04)December 4, 1806
Brownington, Vermont
Died March 4, 1868(1868-03-04) (aged 61)
Washington, D.C.
Citizenship  United States
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Ellen Jannette Harris
Children William H. Baxter (1833-1843)
Jedediah Hyde Baxter (1835-1836)
Jedediah Hyde Baxter (1837-1890)
Myron Leslie Baxter (1840-1895)
Henry Clay Baxter (1844-1890)
William P. Baxter (1847-1911)[1]
Alma mater Norwich Military Academy and University of Vermont
Profession Politician, Lawyer

Portus Baxter (December 4, 1806 – March 4, 1868) was a nineteenth-century banker, farmer, and politician from Vermont. He served as a U.S. Representative from Vermont.

Early life

Baxter was born in Brownington, Vermont, the son of William and Lydia (Ashley) Baxter. After attending local schools, he graduated from Norwich Military Academy in 1824, and entered the University of Vermont in Burlington.[2] He left UVM in 1826 after his father's death, and was responsible for administering his father's estate. (In 1852, UVM conferred on Baxter the honorary degree of master of arts.) He moved to Derby Line, Vermont in 1828 where he engaged in agricultural and mercantile pursuits, which took him down the Connecticut River valley and into Canada. He was one of the original incorporators of the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad, which was planned to run almost the entire length of the state on the eastern border.

Politics

He became interested in politics early in his career. Baxter served as Assistant Judge of Orleans County from 1846 to 1847. He was the only Whig delegate from New England who supported Zachary Taylor for president in 1848.[3] He also strongly supported Winfield Scott in his unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1852. He became a Republican when the party was founded, and was a presidential elector for John Fremont in 1856.[4]

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.[5][6] During the 38th Congress, he chaired the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy. He also served on the Agriculture and Elections Committees.[7]

Civil War

Baxter's time in Congress coincided with the four years of the American Civil War, and he was such a proponent of Vermont soldiers he earned the nickname, 'the soldier's friend.'[8] One Vermonter's letters document instances where Mrs. Baxter, and other wives and daughters of Vermont's Congressional contingent, were strong supporters of the efforts of the Christian Commission. Baxter also frequently visited the regiments in the area immediately surrounding Washington, D.C., 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 in May 1864, Baxter and his wife spent so much time in the hospitals in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, tending to wounded soldiers, that they themselves suffered from exhaustion and eventually had to leave to recuperate.

Post Civil War

He remained in Washington, D.C. after completing his last term. Baxter suffered from asthma, and he died of pneumonia after a few days' illness. His was buried in the village cemetery in Strafford, Vermont.[9] There is a cenotaph to his memory in Brownington's village cemetery.[10]

Baxter General Hospital, the Civil War soldier's hospital in Burlington, was named for Baxter, as was Portus Baxter Park in Derby Line.[11][12]

Family

His wife, Ellen Jannette Harris (1811–1882), daughter of Judge Jedediah Hyde Harris of Strafford, whom he married on June 19, 1832, survived him by fourteen years. They had eight children, four of whom lived to adulthood. The most notable was Jedediah Hyde Baxter, who served as Surgeon General of the United States Army.[13]

Judge Harris was the business partner of Senator Justin Smith Morrill. Baxter and Morrill became close friends as a result of the connection to Harris, with Morrill referring to Baxter as "one of nature's noblemen" and Baxter consciously patterning his business and political career on Morrill's.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Joseph Nickerson Baxter, Memorial of the Baxter Family, 1879, pages 79-80
  2. ↑ "Hon. Portus Baxter". Old Stone House Museum. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Portus Baxter". Find A Grave. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Baxter, Portus (1806-1868)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Portus Baxter". Vermont In The Civil War. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Rep. Portus Baxter". Govtrack.us. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  7. ↑ "BAXTER, Portus, (1806 - 1868)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  8. ↑ Duffy, John J. and Samuel B. Hand (2003). The Vermont Encyclopedia. UPNE. p. 50.
  9. ↑ "Portus Baxter". Find A Grave. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  10. ↑ Portus Baxter (Brownington) at Find a Grave
  11. ↑ Designed to Cure: Civil war Hospitals in Vermont (PDF). Vermont History.org. p. 177. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 10, 2005.
  12. ↑ Holland Historical Society, Holland and Its Neighbors, 2004, page 97
  13. ↑ "Some memories of the war". Browington, Vermont: Northesast Kingdom Civil War Roundtable Newsletter. June 2009. p. 8.
  14. ↑ William Belmont Parker, The Life and Public Services of Justin Smith Morrill, 1924, page 52

Further reading

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United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Homer E. Royce		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's 3rd congressional district
1861–1867 		Succeeded by
Worthington C. Smith
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