PORTER, Pleasant, Creek Indian leader: b. near Clarksville, in the Creek Nation, 26 Sept. 1840; d. Vinita, 3 Sept. 1907. His pater nal grandfather, a native of Pennsylvania, was a captain in the United States army at the time of the Creek War and showed such consider ation for the defeated Muskogees that they formally adopted him as a member of the tribe. Years later, Pleasant Porter's father, Benjamin E. Porter, settled in the Indian Ter ritory, where he married the daughter of a prominent chief, Tah-to-pee Tust-e-nuk-kee, and became a planter. Pleasant Porter's early life was simple and uneventful. He was edu cated at the Presbyterian mission school at Tal lahassee. At the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the Confederate service as a private soldier in one of the Creek Indian regiments. He saw much active service and was promoted through the non-commissioned grades to the rank of a first lieutenant. The end of the war found him, like most of his fellow-tribesmen, penniless. He then began the life of a farmer.
His first official position in civil life was that of superintendent of schools in the Creek Na tion, in which capacity he reorganized the tribal public school system, which had ceased to exist during the war. His ability becoming recog nized, his services were soon in demand as a representative of his people in Washington. As the commander of the Creek National forces during the intratribal insurrection known as the Spiechee War, in 1882, he displayed not only courage but also good judgment and tact as well. During his later years he occupied the position of principal chief of the Creek Nation. In 1905 he was chosen as president of the Se quoyah Constitutional Convention, which gath ered at Muskogee to frame the organic law for a commonwealth to be composed of the tribal domains of the five civilized tribes.