Tom Porter

Troop Leader Tom Porter commanded a squad of Freedom Party Guards at Camp Determination to which Hipolito Rodriguez belonged. While typically racist against blacks, Porter recognized that Hispanics like Rodriguez, who pulled their weight, were as good a citizen as any other Confederate.

The one thing Porter emphasized to his men was that the blacks were to think of Camp Determination as nothing more than a transit camp. Whenever anyone made any comment about killing blacks, he came down hard on the individual and any guards within earshot. For instance, when the barracks were fumigated for vermin, a guard joked that he wished the same could be done with the blacks. Porter chewed him out and emphasized to all the guards the importance not to make such a slip. For some guards, these lessons would last for a little while before they would make another comment.

When Rodriguez was promoted to Troop Leader for helping the camp commandant Jefferson Pinkard come up with the idea of bathhouses, Porter supported the change and smoothed acceptance among the other non-comms.