Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1880-03-25

was driven from the Army In disgrace.
He Appeals 30 US by this BIZ to do
what? To restore him to his place, to
put him where he woGla be, Il the
language of the original bill; Il there
had never been a court-maItial. Nov
| appeal to all the lawyers of this bod5
to know if that be not an exercise Of
the pardoning power. What more
could the President do? The Presi-
dent could say, / pardon Fitz-J ohm
Porter for the offence for which lie was
convicted by this court on such day.
Is not that precisely what you are ask
ed to do in a different phraseology !?
Are you not called upon here in pass
ing this bill to relieve him from the
consequences of that Judgment? Are
you not called upon to change the
phrase without changing the state
nieht; and pardon Fitz-John Porter.
Does any man claim that pardon can
be granted by Congress.
After showing that the sentence of
the court-martial was just, although
leinent under the agravatiIs Gircum-
stances of his crime, Senator Carpen-
ter sain:
Mr.. President, | have no feeling
against Fitz-Jo ohm Porter of any kind
| was with him year at the Academy
at West Point. [ had always esteem
cd him until this affair occurred In
all his former history IN the Army, no
mar ever questioned his courage, no
man ever questioned his devotion to
the flag. He stood high; he perform
ed his duty we'll, and was entitled to
praise and credit. and had it, too, from
all sources; he was brevetted Tor gal
liant conduct. but as the Senator from
Illinois we'll said yesterday, those
things become aggravations of his of
Tense under the circumstances of this
case.
The testimony here, which [ have
examined pretty fully, convinces me,
not that Portnr was disloyal to the
Union, not that Porter meant that the
South should succeed in breaking UP
the Government. but he was devoted
TO Mcclellan; Mcclellan was the idol
or his heart and the star of his hope.
He wanted to serj Mcclellan succeed
frSt He wanted to our cause
Urosper but he wanted Mcclellan to
lead us to victory. He was the man
to whom he was attached, the man on
whom all the affections Of his heart
seemed to be conferred; and it was as
bitter as death to him when Mcclellan
was supplanted in command and sue
ceeded by man for whom he seems
to have great contempt. That was
the fault and caused the fall OF Fitz-
John Porter, who, like Lucifer, fell,
never to rise again.
Why, look at the offense Of which
he has been convicted and I think
the testimony sustains the finding OF
the court There battle was raging.
upon which the fate of this nation
might be depending. Ordsrs were
issued to him again and again. which
he disregarded; which he fatty dis
obeyed, and when finally, in obedience
to the positive orders to come and re-
port on the battlefield to Pope in
person, he did come up be came up.
a. it is sold. without one Of his orig
AIDES. and so tardily as to show that he
had no wish for Pcpe's success and
no desire to obey the order Why,
Mr. President. life depended on his
ohedience-thc life of an army, per-
haps the life of a nation If General
/ Porter should 90 down the Avenue to
! day and kill a man, be would be in
dicted. tried, sentenced. and hanged -
life for life. Upon this admeasure-
.aent Of justice what shall be done with
. man who by his criminal conduct,
sacrificed the lives of twentp Thousand
soldiers The battler rendered neces-
sary in consequence of his neglect Of
duty, but for which we would have
had victory on the first day, as the
Senator from Illinois stated Yesterday.
resulted in the loss Of about twenty
thousand men. Upon this principle
of admeasurement, if Fitz-J ohm Por-
ter had twenty thshsati1' lives, they
!, were all forfeited to the State
The people of my own State l know
felt 1t kcenly. The loss fell heavily
upon us. What was called the Iron
Brigade in the Army of the Potomac
was made up Of three Wisconsin regi-
ments and one from Indiana, [ think
the Nineteenth Indiana, as brave a
body Of men as ever trod battle field:
a bo,fy of men who. for heroism, for
endurance in the privations of war,
and for soldierly bearing and conduct
everywhere, would not suffer by COM
parison with the Old Guard of Napol-
con. In one of the battles, that brig
ade lost in one hour and five minutes,
nineteen hundred and ten men killed
and wounded. Every train of cars
that penetrated the interior States for
months afte1ward came frei ghted With
the sacred remains of our slaughtered
soldiers. These were piled mp at rail
way stations like merchandise. They
sleep now in the graves that dot every
high hill and every green valley in