The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-01-04
Yesterdays Debate on the Bill.
tho Western Associated Presa

restore Fitz John Porter. He said that at
about the hour General Pope was issuing an
order to General Porter dated 4:30 p. NJ, to
attack Immediately, Porter was writing a
dispatch announcing that he had determined
to retire to Manassas, and that when, thirty
minutes later he received an order to attack
he did not communicate it to his officers, but
suppressed it
Mr.. Sewell said the evidence showed that
General Porter did not receive the order to
ettack until 6:30, near sunset.
Mr.. Logan replied that Douglas Pope, the
officer who carried the order testified that he
delivered it.
Mr.. Sewell-The character of Douglas
Pope for veracity is not very good.
Mr.. Logan-The character of Douglas
Pope for veracity not very good? Mr. Presi-
dent, knew Douglas Pope better than the
Senator did. He was born and raised in my
State. He is dead now and you may assail
him; but his record is as good as the Sem
ators is.
Mr.. sewell-If I had known he was dead,
would not have made the remark
Mr.. Logau-Well, sir, You ought to
know it. 1t was published far ana wide
Douglas Pope was an honorable man. 1t is
easy to assail him now, for everybody knows
the dead and absent are always wrong, and
the living and present always right" As the
senator from New York seemed to desire that
the flood-gates should be opened and all the
truth let out, the fact might as we'll be stated
that the gentlemen engaged In this plan of
working out the restoration of Fitz John
Porter to the army sent a man to Columbus
o., and paid a witness to come and see them,
and tried to persuade him he was mistaken
as to the time when the order to attack was
delivered. Two excuses are offered for Por-
ter's failure to obey this order: First, that he
was confronted by an overwhelming force
under Longstreet and second, that the order
was not received until too late an hour
for the attack. If the opposing force was
so large, Porter would nave had better
chance of success in flank attack at night
than by waiting for daylight but in fact
the report of the Confederate OF ers showed
that 10 900 of Longstreets Troops were en-
ragged at Groveton so that the force left in
front of Porter was certainly rt larger than
his own
In conclusion, Mr.. Logan SAL: 'Why is it
shat whenever this case comes lp the Senate
Is divided on political line? t ought not
70 be so, because there is no pIitics in tbe
case 1t was merely questio i1t s Al :ne
the verdict of court mart =, -, " 10 0'S'.'5
convicted and sentenad Of time
when a good many Ecu ~ az TN" me
., sather- side Of -. .tN amber were hodine
their own courts martial down South.
Could it be possible those gentlemen and
others of their politics would now vote,
without reference to the facts or the law,
that the action OF the court be reversed and
this man put back into the army, merely
because he belonged to their party, and be-
cause they were prejudiced against the court
that convicted him, and the President who
approved the conviction? There was no
other ground on which they could give such
vote He had hoped these old preiudices
had passed away He did not think it was
either good taste or good policy for gentle
men on the other side to undertake to
revise and reverse what had been done
here, during the war, according to law
and fact They had better let men
who had proved dereliCt on the Union side
and who had been dealt with by the govern
ment, alone. They are of no service to you,
and of none to us. They are of no more SER
vice to the country. They may serve them
selves, but no one else. He protested against
the passage OF this bill because it would in
troduce diSorganlZing and disrupting influ-
ence INTO the army, which belonged to the
whole country, and in whose efficiency all
were interested. For himself with his
knowledge of the character of the court that
convicted this man, of the President who APP
proved its action, and of the facts of the case,
If he felt any impulse to vote for this bill
to please anybody, he would
go across the Potomac and kneel
among the graves Of the boys who fell on the
battlefield of Groveton on that Doth of Au-
gust, and would there pray God to forgive
coin, who approved the verdict of the court,
and of Garfield, who took part in the render
ing of that verdict, and always believed it
just, to restrain him from penetrating such
wrong upon the nation and upon its brave
soldiers, living and dead
MR. sEwELLs REPLY.
Mr.. Sewell replied briefly to Mr.. Logan
He said the verdict of the court-martial that
convicted General Porter was based upon the
idea put forth by General Pope that there
was no force in Porter's front; that
Longstreet had not arrived at the time the
that order had been obeyed, Porter would
have encountered no obstacle until he struck
JackSon's right flank. This showed clearly
that General Pope did not understand the sit
uation. His whole campaign was directed
against one corps OF the Confederate force
the one commanded by Jackson, utterly ig-
noring the fact that Longstreet had passed
through Thoroughfare Gap, and was in front
OF Porter and Mcdowell with $4,000 men.
Mr.. Sewell read copiously from the testi-
mony and documents in the case in support
of his views, and said, in conclusion, that
the subject was not new one. 1t was as old
as his term in the Senate, and was likely to
outlive him. Twenty years ago General
Porter, distinguished capable and faithful
soldier in the army of the United States,
who had fought many battles for his
country, not one against it, was con-
demned as q traitor. From that time
to this General Porter had steadily asked,
not for mercy, but for justice, and his de-
mand had been long denied; but, thank
heaven, a new light is breaking over that
dark and dismal sea which General Porter
had been forced to sail. Military boards,
composed of distinguished officers not sup
posed to be his friends, have investigated the
case, and General Porter stands to-day with
out stain in the estimation of those who
have been his most bitter accusers. General
Grant, distinguished alike for ability and
courage in war and for the gallantry of his
heart and mind in peace, to his everlasting
honor be il said hears testimonv to the instice