The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-06-02

Il, 900 men me for thirty days, under Gen. A. J.
ington m relation to the expedition a ievsi:
oped bY the eyidepee were those of the PEST
dent that q permit be granted 70 Casev . and
6que. 70 go up ked river and purchase cotton
In which he directs officers 81 tia armv ana
desirable. -..a 49, -,
In the absence of all orders u r,eecmn;rire, ,h
petition to be undertaken, after the rafrss as
the authorities at Washington to furnish the
troops asked for, 1t was entered upon bv the
commanding general, as shown bv the evi
dence, against his judgment, and in the hei;af
that it must necessarily fail; and it was nrose-
cuted at a sacrifice of property, of lives. and
valuable time. After the development Of facts
that utterly precluded al nope Of success It
averred military object, and as military move.
ment it seems to have been conducted without
capacity or discretion. Its only results in adj
dition to the disgraceful military disaster that
attended it, were of commercial and political
character. Commercial transactions were con.
Quoted by those who ascended Red River by
authority of the Presidents permit, as before
stated, and in part by spectators, who, with
out any permit or other authority, as far as is
shown by the evidence of the commanding
general, came up on the headquarters boat OF
the army, bringing with them bagging and
rope for the cotton they might secure. POliti-
cal transactions were shown by the holding of
an election in the camps Ofthe army while en-
gagged in an expedition with the view of reor-
ganizing civil government in Louisiana The
attempt to do this was clearly usurpation on
the part of the military authorities, the eXecu-
ton of which was as weak and inefficient as
the attempt was improper and illegal.
g. FORT FISHER AFFAIR.
The Committee examined carefully all the
circumstances of the first failure at Fort Fish
er, and Gen. Butler ia substantially indicated
by the report. Butler, Weitzel, Terry, Porter,
have testified, and their testimony all points in
the same direction-that he was warranted in
declining to make the attack for which he has
fair open military question whether to land and
attack or not. Weiszel, the friend of General
Grant, says if he had gone at the head of such
an expedition, with entire discretion in the
matter he never would have put man ashore.
Buffers fault seems to have been Ga technical
One) a violation of a peremptory order from
Gen. Grant to land and intrench at all hazards.
do. But he justities himself before the Com.
mittee by alleging that on account of the tenn
pest and the proximity of the rebel force, such
an effort would have been perilOus, and in his
opinion would have failed with great loss of
life.
As to the leadership of the expedition, Gen.
Grant swears it was not intended that Butler
should go, and that Butler knew he was not to
go. On the other hand Butler swears it was
intended he should go, and that Grant knew he
was going! 1t seems probable that one or the
other of these gentlemen is mistaken. Testi-
mOny of other generals shows that Butler, in
command of the department., had a perfect
right to accompany the expedition unless
commanded not to do so, and that it was the
most natural thing in the world for him to go
in command.
CHEYENNE INDIAN MASSACRE,
The committee having examined the sub.
ject of the massacre of Cheyenne Indians, says:
sit is difficult to believe that beings in the
form of men, and disgracing the uniforms of
United States soldiers, could countenance the
commission of such cruelty or barbarity as de-
tailed in the history. There were hostile H.
dams not far distant, against whom Col. Chiy-
ington could have led the force under his CON-
mand."
They conclude as follows: g Your committee
most sincerely trust that the result of their in.
quiry will be the adoption of measures which
render impossible the employment of officers,
civil and military, such as have heretofore
made the administration of Indian affairs in
this country by-word and reproach. Your
committee are of opinion that for the purpose
of indicating the course of justice and up
holding the national honor, prompt and ener-
getic measures should be taken to remove from
office those who have disgraced the govern
mcnt, and punish them as criminals guilty of
brutal and cowardly acts" -
The report is signed by B. F. Wade, chair.
man, q. Chandler, Geo. w. Julian, and B. F.
Loan. "a III
d. W. Gooch dissents from the views of the
majority, concluding his report as follows:
Whatever there may have been of feeling be.
tween the army and navy in relation to the
seizure of cotton, the examination OF all the
testimony will show that military operations
were not delayed or interfered with by any
operations in cotton. The delays at points
where these operations were carried out were
occasioned wholly by other causes. During
the progress of the expedition meetings were
held at two places-Alexandria and Grand
Ecore-for the election of delegates to con.
vention then about to meet for the organiza.
ton of State Government in Louisiana. It
does not appear that any officer or private, or
anybody connected with the expedition in any
way, interfered with or participated in these
elections, or that they caused the slightest de-
lay to the movements of the army or navy, or
influenced or controlled the expedition in the
foofd