Joseph Chrisman Porter (12 September 1809 – 18 February 1863) was a Confederate officer in the American Civil War, a key leader in the guerrilla campaigns in northern Missouri, and a figure of controversy. The main source for his history, Joseph A. Mudd (see below) is clearly an apologist; his opponents take a less charitable view of him, and his chief adversary, Union Colonel John McNeil, regarded him simply as a bushwacker and traitor, though his service under General John S. Marmaduke in the Springfield campaign ("Marmaduke's First Raid") and following clearly shows he was regarded as a regular officer by the Confederacy. Early life Joseph C. Porter was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, to James and Rebecca Chrisman Porter. The family moved to Marion County, Missouri, in 1828 or 1829, where Porter attended Marion College in Philadelphia, Missouri, and was a member of the Presbyterian Church. About 1844, Porter married Mary Ann E. Marshall (d. DeWitt, AR "about two years after the war closed," according to Porter's sister). They subsequently moved to Knox County, remaining there until 1857, when they moved to Lewis County, and settled five miles east of Newark. Family members assert that only one photograph of Porter was known to exist, and it was destroyed when his home was burned by Union soldiers. Porter had strong Southern sympathies, and was subject to harassment by pro-Union neighbors, since he lived in an area where loyalties were sharply divided. His brother, James William Porter (b. 1827, m. Carolina Marshall, sister to Joseph's wife Mary Ann, 1853), was also a Confederate officer and Joseph's trusted subordinate, reaching the rank of major. The brothers went to California during the Gold Rush of 1849, then returned to Missouri and farmed together before the war. Civil War The Porter brothers enrolled with Colonel Martin E. Green's Missouri State Guard regiment and participated in the attack on the union Home Guard at Athens; and they later participated in the Confederate attack on Lexington, September 1861. Joseph Porter had no prior military experience, but proved to be a natural leader and was elected a lieutenant colonel (an official commission would come later) in the Missouri State Guard. Following his participation in the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, Porter returned home on the orders of General Sterling Price, to raise recruits throughout northeast Missouri. His duties included the establishment of supply drops, weapons