, 1870-03-06
fHT CASE or FITZ-JG1N PORTER,

Porter to be restored to his position in the
n.my, and to relieve himself of the obloquy
cast On him By the sentence Of the court |
by which be WIS tried, has called forth q
counter stntenens from Major General
John Pope General Pope begins by civ
ing the disposition VI Aha forces under his
command on the morning OF August 90,
1852, that being the day Of the second
battle Of Bull Bun. Two-thiras OF the
army under his Immediate direction were
drawn up in line Of battle, facing west, aud
extending across the Warreuton pike from
uezr Lodley Springs On the north to Grove
ton on the south, confronting the rebel
Inca Early that morning Porter was ut
Manassas Junction, southeast Of the ze-
1nRsoder OF the army, with his large and
disciplined corpa, embracing all the regu-
lar regiments in the East, provided
with artillery, aud fresh and vigorous. At
3 IN order reached him from Pope 10 move
forward to Gainesville, point On the
Nai1e1tou turnpike, west and south Of
The position Of the Union army. he
rnnrchcd up the Gainesville road until
his rear had reached a point whence
crosa-Eoad rau north to Ludley Springs,
intersectipg the Union lines north Of the
Narzerton turnpike. Having got thus far
BY noon, he rested while General Mcdowell,
Who had marched behind him from Ma
nasses, took this cross-roAd and Joined the
left Of Pope's line. Porter remained mo-
iionlees few miles south Of the field Of
battle, end within hearing distance, until
3 OF in the afternoon, when he wrote to
Mcdowell that he had determined to with
draw to Manassas, siuoo the enemy were in
Hhopg force Oh the Groyeton road and
seemed to have driven tho Union forces
back,-their firing having retired As that Of
the enemy advanced. Advancing masses
of dust ehowed the enemy approaching
in force. At half-past Pope ordered
Porter, tor the soznd Of whose gum he
had been impat1ently listening, to push
into action on the eueny'a right flank.
the battle closed, bat it only Influenced him
80 far as to cause him to halt before hs had
returned to the Junction.
General Pope, after thus stating The cir.
cumstances connected With Purter's con-
duct on th1t dag, goes on to criticse his
e1cuses- It is his opinion that no honora-
bic officer, belieyiog, as Porter Says he did,
that that portion q tie Union army near.
est him vaa defeated and driven away,
would. therefore havo retseated with
oat., firing q gun ,Po1ter's reason fol
resreotirz vas the strongest reason
why he should not hnve done *
All honoral,ls feelings should hare u1get
him TO succor his comrades, whom, how
ever. be wrongly believed to have bee'
defested.
To Porter's second 1ensSu,-that he bt
Ieved the enemy 10 be in heavy fotca
front Of him, and coming II force,-he n
pl1ts that If this had been the case, and hi
instructions merely general, be shout
hAvo joined the main body OF the army Z
pursued some similar course; but, haviu
received tho order to attack in front,
xss his business to obey it. He had nou
ing 10 d. with the motive influencing th
General commanding. His duty vi
simply to obey the orders giren h;u
and every dictate Of honor, duty, an
military law required him to do 80.
General Pope then quotes from the Il
ports Of the 1chel Generals Stuart, Lcn1
street, md jackson to SHOW that Porte
vas utterly mistaken in tbs idea TINT Il
enemy were ia front Of him in force, ~
fhat the Federal forces on his right vel
being driven hack Stuart's report is
The effect that he advanced from Gaine
wills towards Manassas, when he met Il
eueuy,-ths prolongatiou Of whose lima I
nsreh would have paased through bis pos
tion and struck LongBtzeet in flank. E
waited his app1uach long enough to asoe
tain thst there was 1t least IN arny CORP
at the came time keeping dataehnents
cavalry dragging bruah down tho road fro
the direction of Gaineaviue, 70 II to n;
cloud Of dust aud deoai.a The ensSuu i
Soon ..yfter Lfonggtreet sent h
three b1igades and some artillery to h'
him bold hia Important position It
twill be seen that these three briga!
we're all the troops That ever were in fF
d Porter. Longstreet reports the send
q thnen troops to oppose PoEtar, md 7
withdrawal, upon his zetreat, to use Il