National Republican., 1882-12-30

NUb DItolutHl uuu IeIullltu 50 0lutn OF lne
judgments as disqualified Porter from holding
any office of trust or profit, and the question
now was whether congress should review the
action of the court. There were two general
questions in the case; one of law, and the
other of fact. An attempt had been made to
justify Porter's conduct by an alleged Ma
polconic maxim that -" the order of a com
uiauding officer is not necessarily to he obeyed
unless he is present and observing the situa-
tion' This was not the law nor was it Ma
pu'oon's idea, because one of his leading max
idls wa, that where the general was not
pres mt TO give orders each corps commander
shou. Il march to the sound of the enemies
gUns. Upon the question of obedience to or
dCga \ q. Logan cited De Hart as saying that
"hcsit 'cy in the execution of q military or
der is G rly, under most circumstances, a Sc
rious of sc, and would subject one to severe
pCuultie. and actual disobedience of an order
is n crimt against which is denounced the
extreme 'nalty of DEATH In every case in
which an VI Ter is not clearly in derogation of
some right obligation created by law, the
command of Z, le superior must meet with un-
hcsitating, ins slant obedience" And the
article of war, under which Porter was con-
demned, provide es that an officer who disobeys
any lawful command ofhis superior officer shall
suffer death or such other punishment as a
court martial may direct.
Here Mr.. Logan argued in support of his
views neretOtOre announced that the SCnO-
field board which II rtviewcd the Porter case
was without authority of law. Gen. Pope
had been criticised for not having appeared
before that board. If he (Mr. Logan had
been subppnacd before il he would have de-
clined TO appear and would have let the Pres
ident know that he had no authority to CON
stitute the board. In reading the report he
found it difficult to tell whether they were
trying Porter or Gen Pope, but it showed
clearly that they had not read the record.
They said that the order to attack sent to
Porter was an order to attack Jackson's right
flank though the order says nothing about
jackson. but directs IN attack on "the right
flank or rear of the enemy" which was in fact
commanded by Longstreet. Gen Grant had
fallen into the same error. The board said
also that "Porters subordinate and wise con-
duct that evening saved the Union army"
That meant that when the whole confederate
force, except few brigades, was attacking
Pope's $4,000 men, Porter, lying by with ID, 900
men with arms stacked, saved the Union
army Saved it from what? Not from being
beaten, for it was beaten. Upon this princi-
pie, if the whole Union army had stacked
arms nobody would have been hurt Laugh
ter. The board went upon the theory that
the reports upon which the court martial
convicted Porter, were those of the Both of
August, instead of the Goth, and that the re-
ports of the confederate generals, Lee Long
bUTbeI, anu hUSStT SllOIlu IfdNI Int OWN
and not the Goth, as they did read. In fact,
no man familiar with the case could avoid
the conclusion that the board paid no atten-
tion to the evidence or that they perverted
and distorted it in every possible way.
Boards, like other people, were affected some
times by strange influences and there was a
curious fact that ought to he stated in conncc-
tion with this one. At the time the board
was organized, Gen. Mcdowell was of age to
retire, and Gen. Pope was the next
ranking officer, but two of the members of the
hoard were applicants for the place. OF
course that did not affect their judgment in
anyway. Yet strange to say, up to the time
when Pope was nominated and confirmed
there was a constant war waged upon him.
with the view OF breaking him down, so that
somebody else should get the place to which
he was entitled. The members of the board
being honorable gentlemen, could not, of
course, have had anything to do with this !;
hut as Pope was now in the place the attacks
would probably cease. In the attempt to
ma Ike case for Porter every great name,
living and dead, was "rung in," and it had
been stated that President Lincoln repentcd
of having approved tho GpdiRg, 9f the court
martial, and intended to give Porter a new
trial.
Mr. Lincoln was too good a lawyer
not to know that he had no power to grant Il
new trial, and as to his alleged repentance, the
it''l 'Nlu'ncC was INC testimony OF hODeru
J ircol., that his father had talked with him
about the case, and had said that in his opin-
ion it was one which would have justified u
sentence of death. The statement had been
made also that Gen. Garfield had repented of
his action as member of the court martial,
but it was untrue; for, as late as February,
1880, long after this board had made its re-
port, Garfield conversed with him uogan)
about the case, and was preparing a speech to
be delivered in the house in opposition to the
relief bill. He had also written u letter to
Gen. Cox, of Ohio, (which Logan had read by
the clerk, stating that he had been so stunned
by the decision of the Schofield board that he
could hardly trust himself to speak of it as il
appeared to him. Returning from his digres
sion, Logan said that the law being as he had
stated it, the only question remaining was ont
of fact, namely, whether Porter did obey ol
try TO obey the order of the commanding
general. Before discussing the action of Gen
Porter, Mr.. Logan read his two letters to Gen
Burnside, as showing his animus toward Pope
and Mcdowell, and in connection with this
he intimatcd that the defeat of Mcdowell al
the first battle of Bull Run was due to Por
ters action in dssuading Gen. Patterson from
attacking Joe Johnston in the valley of Nir
ginia. Mcdowell was defeated by Johnston
moving over from Winchester and attacking
him on the flank, and if the attack had beer
made by Patterson it would have kept John
sion III lne valley. 30 IL lnlPnt DC Salu VIII
truth that FitZ-John Porter caused the loss O
both the battles of Bull Run, just because tn,
union army in each case was commanded by
western man. The fact was that Mcclellan
Porter, and several others who coulC
he named formed little coterie of regular
army officers in the army of the east. One o
them was to be president and the others werC
10 be-God only knew what; but it was un
derstood among them even asearly as the frs
battle of Bull Run that no western mar
should command the eastern army. Speak
ing of Porter's failure to obey POpe's order t.
march for Bristow station at | o'clock in the
morning Logan contended that the excuse,
given for it were futile and ridiculous, aut
that it was a clear case of wllful disObed
ence. One of the excuses was that the roaC
was cncumbcred with wagons, and Porter
himself said that he had sent u couple of off
GERS to ask Gen. Pope to have the wagons re
moved. You may search military his
tory, said Mr.. Logan, from Cyrus and Al
cNandcr down to the present time
and this is the only instance yOr
will find where subordinate ever sen
word to his superior officer to clear the way
for him so that he could move. Laughter.
And there never was a commanding officer
except Gen. Pope who would not have re
moved II subordinate from his command fo
sending him such Il message He had recent,
asked n gentleman, very high in the army
and Undcr whom he had served in the west
what he thought would have been done Il
him NLOganj if hc had sent to his command
ing officer 10 move wagons out of his way, ant
the distinguished gentleman had replied
'WoIi, think You would have been put on
udry nurse lLaughter.l Yet Mr. Porter
in command of 1i,0O0 men, could not mov
unless Gen. Pope and his aids would com
and move the wagons for him. Laughter