Porter Cornelius Bliss

Who was Porter Cornelius Bliss?

Porter Cornelius Bliss American journalist and diplomat: born on the Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County, New York of Seneca Indians on December 28, 1838; studied at Hamilton College and Yale College; traveled in Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia 1860-61, investigating the condition of the Indian tribes in behalf of societies at Boston; was employed for some months as clerk in the Indian Bureau, and subsequently in the post-office department at Washington 1861; took part in volunteer organizations for the defense of the capital; visited England the same year; accompanied Gen. James Watson Webb as private secretary on his mission to Brazil 1861-63; was commissioner of the Government of the Argentine Republic for the exploration of the Indian country called the Gran Chaco 1863; edited at Buenos Aires a monthly periodical, The River Platte Magazine; was appointed by President López historiographer of Paraguay; became secretary to Hon. Charles Ames Washburn, U. S. minister to Paraguay, 1866; aided him in collecting materials for his History of Paraguay; was imprisoned by command of López on a charge of treason and conspiracy for his assassination September 10, 1868; while imprisoned wrote under duress a deliberately falsified account of the U.S. legation's plan, retracted after his rescue by a U. S. Navy squadron December 10, 1868; appointed translator to the State Department at Washington, March, 1869; editor of the Washington Chronicle 1869-70; President Grant appointed him secretary of legation in Mexico 1870-74, and acting minister several months 1872-73. He afterward resided in New York, and was vice-president of the American Philological Society and an editor of the New York Herald. Died in New York, February 1, 1885.