Hero or Coward
Hero or Coward
The Story of General Fitz John Porter
As part of a larger sesquicentennial commemoration held at Strawbery Banke Museum, Hero or Coward: The Story of General Fitz John Porter examines one of the most notorious scandals of the Civil War—the court-martial of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, native and Civil War general Fitz John Porter (1822–1901). Read More»
Product Details
By Kimberly Alexander, Ph.D., Dane Morrison, Ph.D., and Richard Schubart, Ph.D.
Foreword by Lawrence J. Yerdon
10.25 x 8.25 in.; Hardcover; 64 pp
Publication Date: August 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9792014-5-5
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Kimberly S. Alexander is chief curator of Strawbery Banke Museum and adjunct professor at the University of New Hampshire. She earned a doctorate from Boston University and is author of Painting Portsmouth: A Brush with the Past.
Dane A. Morrison is professor of early American history at Salem State University. He earned a doctorate from Tufts University and is author of A Praying People: Massachusett Acculturation and the Failure of the Puritan Vision, 1600–1690 and editor of American Indian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Contemporary Issues and Salem: Place, Myth and Memory.
Richard Schubart is Bates-Russell Distinguished Faculty Professor at Phillips Exeter Academy and a well-known Civil War scholar. He earned his doctorate from SUNY Binghamton and has worked with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Endowment for Humanities, the New Hampshire Humanities Council, the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, the Gilder-Lehrman Institute, and the Gettysburg Visitor Center and Foundation.
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LISTEN TO FITZ JOHN PORTER PODCAST
Interview by Martin Willis, Antique & Auction Forum.
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As a promising general, Porter demonstrated courage, bravery, and impressive strategic skills, yet he made a battlefield decision that changed his life and has been a subject of controversy ever since. In essays from curators Kimberly Alexander and Richard Schubart and from early American historian Dane A. Morrison, the book follows Porter’s military career, spectacular victory at Malvern Hill, stunning defeat at Second Manassas, politically charged court-martial, and sixteen-year struggle to restore his name.
Beautifully illustrated with thirty duotone photographs by Brian Smestad, and featuring an introduction by Strawbery Banke Museum president Lawrence Yerdon, Hero or Coward will appeal to readers interested in the Civil War and New Hampshire history, as well as the general public, as it seeks to answer the question of how a man who seemed destined for greatness ended up in a struggle to restore his reputation after humiliating public defeat.