Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1882-12-14
GEN. GRANTS LETTER.

my intention until within the Last few
days to visit Washington this winter to
spend some time, and there to have al
with you and with Gen
Logan on the subject of the Fitz.John
Porter case, but having now pretty nearly
decided not to 60 to Washington. I have
determined to write, and write to you 20
that You may state my position to your
friends, and particularly to Gen. Logan.
and, If yOu cheese, show this letter to
any such people.
When l commenced the examination
Of the FitzJohn Porter case; ~ il now
stands, it was with the convction that
bis sentence was just one, and that his
had been light for 60 hideous
an offense, but / tried to throw of all
in the case. and to examine it
on its merits. I came out of that EXAM
ination with the firm conviction that an
entirely innocent man had been most un.
justly punished. I cast no censure upon
the court that tried him, because the |
evidence which now proves his entire in-
nocence of dlsobedience of orders it was
impossible to have before that court.
When completed the investigation
and came to the conclusion that L did
of his innocence-my first thought WAS
to write to Gen. Logan, because regard
him as my friend, and am sure I am
his, and he had made probably the ablest
speech OF his life in opposition to the
bill for Gen. Porters restoration to the
army. thought, therefore, it was due
to him that I should inform him of the
conclusion had come to after the inves-
tigation. But as the president was lust |
about visiting this city when my letter |
to him was written, and it was desired to |
present it to him here, I requested in lieu |
of letter to General Logan to have q |
copy of my letter to the president sent
to him. This was done.
You are aware that when Gen. Logan
made his speech against Gen. Porter, it
was in opposition to bill pending in
congress-. He, like myself, was thor
oughly convinced OF the guilt Of Gen.
Porter, and was therefore opposed to
the bill. His Investigations, therefore.
were necessary to find arguments to
sustain his side Of pending question.
I, of course, have no knowledge of the
papers he would refer to, or would ex-
anime to find such argument; but 1
know that he could have the testimony
which was taken before the court-mar-
tial which convicted; probably also the
arguments Of the officer who acted as
prosecutor when the case was before the
Sco6eld court, and arguments that have
been made by lawyers-J. d. Cox and
others, possibly-all of which were in
opposition to Gen. Porter as much as
those of paid attorneys in cases before
civil courts.
But my investigation of all the facts
that could bring before me of the oc.
curances from the 9th of August, 1852,
and for some little time prior, to the LIST
of September, the same year, show con.
clusively that the court and some of the
witnesses entirely misapprehended the
position of the enemy on that day.
| Gen. Porter was convicted of disobedi-
ence Of an order Of Gen. Pope, dated at
$50 p. m. on the 29th of August, TO attack
the enemy on his right flank and in his
rear, if possible. Dispatches of Gen
Pope of that day show that he knew Gen
Lee was coming to the support of Jack,
SOD, whom he thought commanded the
only force in his front at that time, but
that he could not arrive until the even
ing Of the following day, or the morning
j OF the day after. It was sworn to before
the court that this order of 4:30 p. m
reached Gen. Porter at about 5 or 5 80 il
the afternoon; but it must be recollected
that this testimony was given from
memory. and unquestionably without
any idea at the time of the occurrenc,
that they were ever to be called upor
to give any testimony in the case.
J; Investigation shows dispatch from
Gen. Porter, dated 6 p. m. of that after
. noon, which makes no mention OF hav.
ing received the order to attack, and il
J is such dispatch as could not be writ
ten without mentioning the receipt oi
that order, if it had been received
There is no other testimony that maker
J 1t entirely satisfactory to my mind that
tho order was not received until about
sundown, or between sundown and dark
1t was given. as stated before, to attack
the enemy's right, and, if possible, to gel
into his rear. This was on the supposi
ton that jackson was there alone, al
Gen; Pope had stated that he would be
, until the evening OF the next day, or the
} morning of the day following: Ibelieve
the court was convinced that on the
2 evening Of the 29th Of August, Jackson
s with his force, was there alone; but nov
3 it is proved. BY testimony better thar
Z sworn evidence of any persons on the
union side, that on II o'clock q. M. of thu
2 29th Longstreet was up and to the righ
Va OoSn6ohs WlOa ~ 1okSO AAuOu SlCuUS
than Gen. Porter's entire force. The at
tack upon 'Jackson's right and rear wa
I therefore impossible without first wlp
!, ing out the force of Longstreet. Tn
order did not contemplate, either,
J night attack, and to have obeyed it, evel
8 if Longstreet had not been there. Ger
e Porter would have been obliged to max
J q night attack. But even as it was fin
!. that Gen. Porter, Notwithstanding til
|. late hour, did all he could to obey ths
r order. He had previously given CON
8 mand to Gen. Moxrell, who commando
}. his most advanced division, or one mos
y fronting the enemy, to throw out
. skirmishsline to engage the enemy, or
Q keep him occupied, and on receipt {
is this order, although at this late hour,
a Immediately sent orders to Gen. Morr,
s- to incrense il from skirmish line to
e large force, and that he would be Wit
u him as soon as he could get there.
He did actually go to the front. a
8, though it was dark, to superintend th
movement and ~ far ~ possible to pr
9, vent the enemy detaching any thing fro
his front, thus showing desire to OBJ.
l. the order strictly and to the best of b