The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-01-04
XLVII. CONGRESS.
SECOND SESSION.
SENATE.

Ing hoGr Logan continued his FitZ-
john Porter argument. Logan fin
ished at 2.05 and Sewell said he
wanted to read the testimony in the
Porter case. about half an hour.
Sherman said he would then ask
the Senute to take up the whisky
bill.
Logan said about the hour of is
suing the order TO Porter, dated 43O
pm, to attack Immediately, Porter
was writing a dispatch announcing
he determined to retiIe to Manassas,
and when thirty minutes later he
received the order to attack, he did
not communicate it to his officers
but suppressed it.
Sewell said the evidence showed
that General Porter did not receive
the order to attack until $50, near
sunset.
Logan replied: Douglas Pope, the
| officer who carried the order, teSti-
| fed that he delivered it.
Jewell--The character of Douglas
Pope for yeracity, is not very good.
Logan-The character of Doug
las Pope for veracity not very
good? Mr.. President, I knew
Douglas Pope better than the Sena-
tor did. He was born and raised in
my state. He is dead now. and
you may assaiI him, but his record
is as good as the senator's is.
| SeWell-If l had known he was
| dead I would not have made the re-
mark.
Logan-Well, sir, you ought to
know it; it was published far and
wide. AS the senator from New
Jersey seemed to desire the flood
gates should be opened and all the
truth let out, the fact might as we'll
lie stated that the gentlemen en-
gagged in this plan of working out
the restoration of Fitz John Porter
to the army sent man to Co
| Iumbus, Ohio, and paid wit
ness 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 were offered for Porter's
failure to obey this order. First,
he was confronted by an over
whelmIng force under Longstreet;
and second, the order was not re-
ceived until too late an hour for the
attack. If the opposing force was
so large, Porter would have had a
better chance of success in flank
attack at night than by waiting for
daylight; but in fact, the reports of
confederate officers show that I2,-
600 of LOngstreet'S troops were
engaged at Grovton; so the force
left in front Of Porter, was certainly
not larger than his own. In conclu-
sion, Logan said, why is it, whenever
this case comes up the Senate di-
yided on political lines? 1t ought
not to be so, because Of no politics
in the case; it is merely a question
of reversing the verdict of a court
martial upon a man convicted and
sentenced at a time when a good
many senators on the other side of
the chamber were holding their own
court martial down south. Could
| it be possible that those gentlemen
and others of their politics, would
now vote, without reference to
facts or law, that the action Of the
; court should be reversed, and this
man put back into the army merely
because he belonged to their party,
and because they were prejudiced
against the court that convicted
him and the President who ap-
proved Of the conviction? He pro-
tested against the passage Of the
! bill becauseit would Introduce ads
organizing and disrupting influence
into the army which belonged to
the whole country and in whose
efficiency all were interested. If
he felt any impulse for the bill to
please anybody he would go across
| the Potomac, kneel among the
graves of the boys who fell in the
| battle of the 10Th of August and
there pray God to forgive. He
would appeal to the spirit of Lin
coin who approved the verdict and
of Garfield who took part in render
ing that verdict and always be-
lieYed it Just to restrain him from
perpetrating such wrong upon the
nation and its brave soldiers living
and dead.
Sewell spoke briefly to Logan; he
said the verdict of the cOurtmartial
that convicted General Porter was
based on an idea put forth by Gen
eral Pope, that no force was in Por-
ter's front, that Longstreet had not
arrived at the time the order was
sent to Porter, and if the order had
been obeyed, Porter would have en-
countered no obstacle till he struck
Johnson's right flank. showed clearly
that General Pope did not under
stand the position; his whole cam
paign was directed against the corps
of the confederate force commanded
by Jackson, utterly ignoring the
fact that Longstreet had passed
through Thoroughfare Gap, and was
in front Of Porter and Mcdowell
with $4,000 men. Mr.. Seweh read
copiously from testimony and docu-
ments in the case in support OF mis-
views, and said in conclusion, the
subject is anew old one, it was as
old as his term in the Senate, and
likely to outlive him. Twenty
years ago Porter wasa distinguished,
capable and faithful soldier in
| the army of tile United States,
L