Smyrna times., 1882-01-18
F0,' ne .SiDy,l, Tim,
SMYRNA, Jan. I3, lSS2.

SMYRNA, Jan. I3, ISS2.
EDITOR SMYRNA TIMES-Dcdr .Sj,..-
was not only surprised but nained il,
reading your editorial "Wednesday last m,
FItz John Porter. Surprised that Won
should have been SO poorly posted upon
the facts OF the case, and thus innoceutlv
ehdeaVorng to mislead the numeron.
readers of your paper. Panied. that Fitz
fortcr should at this late day after suffer
ing SO many criticisms, be obliged to have
one more unjust charge, in the shape Of
an editorial, thrust upon him.
have taken great interest in this case
lor number of years, having read the
evidence produced on all sides, very care
lully, and would not think of replying to
your editorial now, if not prepared to sub
S,ah'late and satisfy every unbiased mind
that you have done Fitz Porter an inius-
/ tice
One certainly can not question Porter.s
/ loyalty, at the beginning of the var f,,.
| there was no man in the country whose
services were of more value than his Ex-
Governor Curtin, Ex-Governor Uartranff
General Scott, Don Cameron, and MINER
Gus others, unite in saying that he was
me pest, the safest and most trusted man
they mad In the State, to depend uDon g"
ana when the news reached Harrisburph
tnat the 9th Massachusetts Regiment had
oeen assaulted while passing through
Baltimore, Porter with all the ardor of his
vigorous young manhood, addressed Gov
curtin with these words "Goyernor piva
me the force and will go through Balti-
more or over its ashes" And we have
only TO turn back the pages of our rebel
llous history, to find it was but a short
time before Porter stood on the outskirts
OF Baltimore, at the head of a rcpime.t
impatient for the orders to come from
Washington, commanding him to march
through the city. But the personal appcoI
OF Baltlmore's Mayor to President Lincoln.
begging him not TO allow the troops to
march through the city. prevailed, and
Porter was thus disappointed in his desire
TO show the people of Baltimore that the
stars and stripes could be carried triumph
antly through their streets.
But you say that Porter showed his
dlsIoyalty IN not obeying his superior Off
GERS and In failing to join the regular army
at the time and place ordered Tho owl;
dehce produced before the court martial
was to the effect that the confederate army
lay i'll certain position and that General
rope wrote an order, dispatched it by his
orderly to Porter, directing him when and
now to move. Pope sworc that he wrote
IL at certain hour of the day and the
orderly swore that he placed il in Porter's
hands at a certain hour, which would have
given Porter ample time to obey. Porter
however denied this, saying that the order
dlu not reach him until il was too late Ia
move and be of any service and further
more that he had every reason to believe
the Confederates lay in n different dircc-
ton from what Pope believed them to lie.
fOrter was very positive about the order
and requested Pope to produce the oripi-
nal order. Pope said that he had hunted
for 1t but had failed to find it, and
under the passion of the hour Porter was
found guilty. Like every innocent man,
ne Ielt The disgrace most keeely, and more
so, as he remembered how out of pure love
ana devotion to his country, he had gone
forth In early manhood with his life in his |
hand' determined that the flag he loved so |
well should float forever over an midi |
vided country, and to think that in an |
hour when he stood before his God. his |
country, his fellow-men, with a burning. |
unconpromising love for each and an ear
nest desire to act for their best good. that
a few Jealous men should be permitted to
blast his hopes, ambitions and even his
reputation, was more than Porter could
stand. He was persistent in his demands
that the case should be re-opened, that q
commission Of y think nine army officers
We're appointed TO reopen the case. They
had an engineer draw plan of the ground
and summoned the Confederate Generals
who had command of the army at the
time (which was not done before the court
They all under oath, swore that
their army lay exactly where Porter
Thought 1t did. The original order was
also produced and both the date and
showed that Porter was right
and both Pope and his orderly were mis-
taken, that Porter did not receive the
order until It was too late for him to move.
:, ms commission Ga arrhy oiIcers, with all
the facts before them, unanimously renor.
ted that Porter was an Innocent man and
should be reinstated. The only men now
living, who were upon the court-martial
say, that they acted upon the impulse of
ihe moment and are now convinced that
hey were wrong General Grant after I