| Biography/History | Henry R. Porter was born in New York state in 1848. He was educated at a seminary before attending medical school. He graduated from Georgetown University with his M.D. in 1872. That year, we was appointed as an acting assistant surgeon in the United States Army, and was assigned to Arizona, where he served as doctor during battles with Apache Indians. He was transferred to Camp Hancock, in Bismarck, Dakota Territory in 1873, where he was post surgeon. He went to the Little Bighorn with Custer and the 7th Cavalry, and was the only surgeon to survive the battle. He would return to settle in Bismarck. He served in a variety of positions in North Dakota: on the board of the State Hospital in Jamestown, County Physician of Burleigh County, surgeon for the Northern Pacific Railroad, Superintendent of the Burleigh County Board of Health, and president of the state medical society. |
