New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-03-20
FitZ John Porter.

A correspondent, who was on the field of
battle. writes to the Cincinnati Commercial
that Porter. with one third of all Pope's
forces. with nearly all the infantry and
artillery Of the regular army, with his
soldiers fresh and eager to fight. and with
urgent orders to attack, held back his men,
caused the loss of the battle of August 20,
and finally retreated without firing shot.
The writer makes the following forcible
answer to the plea that Longstreets juno
tion with jackson made attack impossible:
Porter can not keep still. He is like a
man in a Quicksand; he can't help strug.
Cling, though every effort sinks him deeper.
The more his case is examined the palmer
his crime appears. The transaction is too
recent to be misrepresented. There are too
many men still living in Ohio aud Wiscon-
sin who remember how Indignantly they
chafed at being held back from the field
where their comrades were vainly strug-
Cling with overwhelming numbers.
General jackson, by his dashlng advance,
got to point where, by rapid concentra-
ton, he could be crushed before Lees army
could come up to his rescue. The first day
of the second battle Of Bulls Bull was
fought between Pope and johnson on the
twenty ninth of August, 1862. Porter and
Mcdowell, under orders from Pope to
of that day. At noon Porter. having
marched three or four miles, halted. Nc
Dowell passed by, and, following up the
sound Of the contending guns, took his
place in the battle that was raging.
Porter lay on the road all the afternoon.
He heard the sound of the battle. His
troops comprised one-third of the force un-
der Pope's command. 1t contained nearly
all the infantry and artillery of the regular
army. His men were fresh-they had
marched little more than six miles in two
days. He was under peremptory and
urgent orders to march forward and engage
tho enemy. He lay in careless d.sobedience,
amusing himself with sending back to Alex
andria insubordinate letters abusing his
commander, listlessly hearing the battle
going on, and finally writing to Mcdowell
and King that our army seemed, from the
sound Of the guns, to be retreating, and he
would retreat by another road. He re-
ceived another peremptory order from Pope
to advance, and thereupon retreated BY
road which led him further from his suffer.
ing comrades.
That is the whole story, No statement of
which is denied by Porter. By the captured
records, we know now just what was the
force in Porter's front. Porter reports he
saw the dust of a heavy column, and ex-
changed some shots with their batteries.
That supposed heavy column was, in fact,
simply Stuart's cavalry. General Stuart
says, in his official report to Lee, that, on
seeing Porter's column in the road, he kept
'detachments Of cavalry dragging brush
down the rod from the direction Of Gaines
vile, so as to deceive the enemy-a ruse
which Porter's report shows was success
full" obtained reinforcement of three bri-
gades of infantry and some guns, with
which he fired few shots, when the enemy
(Porter) withdrew toward Manassas
1t was to save his corps from perilous
encounter with a few troops dragging brush
over dusty road that Fitz John Porter
admits he violated express orders, and left
his commander to struggle unaided till the
forces coming up in the night crushed him
next day.
Treason is a crime against the law. A
man may be traitor Under the law without
consciously soiling his personal honor. But
treache1y, the treachery of a soldier on the
field of battle, is personal baseness. When
an officer IS guilty of that, the greatest boon
he can ask is to be forgotten.