The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-08-16
COLONEL CLENDENISG,s DEFENCE.


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WASHINGTON, d. c., August 10, 1870.
To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:-
My attention has been called to statements in
the Washington correspondence in the HERALD of
the sth and 10th inst, and also an editorial no.
tice on the 10th, all Of which do me great injus-
tice. Believing that neither yourself nor CORE
spondent would wilfuly do me an Intentional in
jury, send you the following statement from the
record. There is a wide difference between
charges made and charges sustained. I do not
deny that charges of-First, conduct unbecoming
an officer and gentleman" second, "cowardice
and misbehavior in the presence of the enemy"
third, "embezzlemenhand misapplication of mo-
| ney;n fourth, fraud to the prejudice of good
order and military discipline" were preferred
against me; but the record of the case shows the
following indings:-'Charge l, not entity; charge
2, guilty, except the word cowardice; charge 8,
guilty, except the word embezzlement; charge 4,
This of itselfis quite different showing from
that made In tue articles referred to your paper.
The only charges sustained were, ''misapplicaton
OF moneys" and "misbehavior in the presence of
| the enemy which need explanation. Under the
former, the only sum charged msappled was
fifty dollars. The specification, stripped Of its
"That he, Lieutenant Colonel j. H. Clendening,
| did, without proper authority, pay out of said
| moneys fifty dollars to Brigadier General w. A.
Pile" Under the charge of misbehavior, in the
| presence of the enemy, there were three speci1-
| cations charging me with absenting myself from
the command from July IL to 81, 1864 inclusive,
| during the hours of march. The record of testi.
| mony on these specifications, going to show that
| it was my purpose, in case of an engagement, to
| leave the regiment in command of my Immediate
| superior who had but little military experience.
| BY reference to the thirty-nnth article of war it
will ho n1afor oil xvipup lice
the Court as regards the sentence, in case of an
officer found guilty Of misapplication of funds, no
matter how small the amount or the nature of the
application. was therefore dismissed the SER
vice. This sentence was revoked not by political
influence with A. Johnson, as is animated in the
articles herein complained Of, but by Edwin NJ.
Stanton, Secretary Of War, ia an order, briefly
stated as follows :-"In view of the circumstances
connected with this case, so much of the order as
relates to Colonel Clendening's hereby revoked
and he is hereby honorabIy discharged the service
of the United States as of the date of said order"
The order was obtained by Mr.. B. Gratz Brown
former republican United States Senator from
Missouri, who, not knowing my address at the
time, enclosed it to a friend for me, to whom lie
wrote as follows
''In Colonel Clendening's case have cot an
order annulling his dismisson, restoring him to
his rank and giving him an honorable discharge.
know you will rejoice with me in this act ofjusice
to a brave man." The grounds upon which the re-
vocation was sought were conspiracy and perjury,
as will be seen by the following letters, forwarded
to Senator Brown as the basis of his action and
which form part of the record of the case. Gen
era William A. Pile wrote 1.-THE fifty dollars
referred to assessed on the sutler of the
regiment and paid by Colonel Clendenng, by my
order, to defray expenses at headquarters which
were not provided for by the regulations. No
part Of it was applied to the private use of him or
any other person. My information convnces me
that the prosecution was the result of conspiracy
and, perhaps, perjury" Captain John ID. Mac
farlane, of the regiment wrote :--"I am free to
cav ~ q a liar nd hot
thing was done that could be, right and wrong,
fair and foul, to ruin you. know that men (not
one only were perjured.'
Brevet Brigadicr General Bouton, who COM
manded the brigade with which, served, wrote =
81 am fully satisfied that his prosecution was
caused by Jealousy and malice, and that if no I'M
fair means had been resorted to by his prose
cutors he would not have been found guilty"
Lieutenant Avery who was acting assistant
adjutant general in the brigade, wrote:-"Malice
and jealousy were leading features in the prose
cution. Strenuous efforts were made to prejudice
the officers of the brigade against him. y y
Misrepresentation and suppression of testimony
were undoubtedly resorted to. If no
unfair means had been resorted to he would un-
doubtedy have been acquitted
l have herein as briefly as the nature of the
case would admit of, given you the facts from the
record, the extracts from the letters being taken
from few of the letters and aflidavts of similar
nature, which were forwarded to Senator Brown
with the case. If the statement should be deemed
lengthy it should not be forgotten that | have
been compelled to make il in justice to myself
and the Union Republican Congressional Commit
tee with which am connected as assistant secre.
tary (pot secretary, as stated in the articles
aforesaid) by statements appearing in your col
umns. You will observe that | make no bare
statements of my own, being contented to stand
or fall by the record itself. Having reason to
believe that your correspondent believed his
informant stated the record correctly make no
charge of wiliul attempt to injure me personally
officially: but have to request that YOU will so
far may be, correct the impressions which have
gone out owing TO your unntentonal, but no less
damaging, Misrepresentation Of the record in the
j IL GIENnENING