The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1886-08-12
cNhAN l. VI Ht
"Maior General. Commanding

so as to keep you IN close cOmmunlca-
tion with the right wing.
John POPE,
Major General, Commanding"
Then he went out to see what was
going on and directed Morell to put
line of battle out, ordered out two
regiments and commenced forming IA
line and then they set al order from
Porter to go into camp for the night.
That was the way he complied with
that order, and yet the Senator says
he carried out the order as far as he
could. 1t was very strange that he
could not move when General Lee and
General Iongstreet both report that
they put Wilcox's division, after be-
ing withdrawn from Jones. into the
fight after 6 o'clock against Mellow
ell Porter could not go in, but the
commanders on the other side could.
Is not that strange process of rea-
soning by which to arrive at correct
conclusion about these things when
one set OF men can dc that which the
other can not, and why? For want
of disposition and nothing else. If
Porter had followed the old maxim
and moved to the sound Of the enc
my's guns, he would have moved right
On and attacked I;ongstreet no matter
how many men he had. ''''
| made the statement here once be-
fore, and if any Of you will read Gen.
Grants story Of the battle to which |
allude yGu Giil Hnd it sorEohorated,
that thirty thousand men were in line
assaulting two divisions Of about ten
thousand men, one little brigade of
not over twenty-five hundred men;
and a general officer moved through
the woods around in rear Of those
thirty thousand men and opened fire
on their rear, stampeded their whole
army, captured thirteen pieces of can
non and more men than his brigade
had. This occurred during the war
at Champions Hill. There was one
little brigade of twenty-five hundred
men that took the chance of being de-
stroyed, but they did it to save the
other two divisions, and stampeded
the whole thirty thousand of the enc
my. This was the proper feeling and
determination.
Porter had eleven thousand or four
teen thousand men. He did not move.
If he had he would have been destroy
ed, he says. This thing Of destroying
an army is an absurdity, unless you
get them inside of a fort, or a place
where it is impossible to get out. Men
who know anything about war know
better. Fitz-John Porter knows bet
ter.
But few days ago at the academy
where he was educated, one of his
classmates leaves the impression on
his hearers that the reputation of a
man who passes through that institu-
tion is always sacred; no matter what
he may do he cannot be denounced;
and this county vas told right from
the rostrum there that this man was
prosecuted man, the martyr of the
age.
Who has prosecuted him? Is he to
pursue men like Pope and Lincoln
and Stanton and Garfield and Hunter
and all these brave men. and ask that
their conduct be aenolnced in this
country and his maintained in the Vi
olation of law and orders, and while
many of these men are in their graves
it is no matter what may be said in
derogation Of them, provided you sus-
tain the traitorous conduct of this
man to his superior officer? Is that
the education this country is to have?
Are we to be told at West Point that
this man is the martyr of the
age? There was no other martyr.
Lincoln was not martyr to freedom
of course; the men who suffered on
the battlefield were not martyrs to the
freedom Of this great country, but
this laan who failed to do his duty is
the martyr Of the age. Future gen
erations will find more martyrs than
one and of different stamp.
Mr.. President, when this course of
conduct is sustained in the halls that
once rang with the voice of patriot
ism in opposition to the voice of trea-
son, when this man having proved
himself treacherous to his command
ing officer and unfaithful to his trust,
appeals to the country with majority
LII OIIS VI Ills oNn
friends and almost an equal number
in the other, men who have not, per-
haps, in times gone by felt toward |
this great country as we have done,
what are we to expect? It i'll be-
comes you to make martyr Of him
who was prosecuted and convicted |
while Lincoln was President. Tt i'll |
becomes you thus to reverse the law,
to reverse the course Of our own peo-
pie, and to reverse the wheels that
rolled along the pathway of civiliza-
ton and freedom, for the benefit of a
man who pandered to the prejudices
that were greater and stronger than
his honor and his patroatism, that he
may be given the record of a patriot
like Lincoln, Stanton, Garfield, and
such men. And yet we find men in
this Chamber who were patriots true,
and who now come in as shining
lights who are willing to record them
selves against these dead patriots and
against their conduct to sustain the
nfamy of a living man that they may
keep promises or obtain the influence
IF certain class. Strike your friends,
lead or alive, that your enemies may
applaud, is the motto of some. Sir.