The National tribune., 1892-05-26

any imperative necessity. Clearly nothing
can Justify the separation of Gen. Mcdowell
from his corps. The moment had arrived for
prompt concentration of the whole army
against the rebel troops under jackson. lie
| knew that Kings line OF march in the
direction Of the small force of the enemy which
! mad been assailed in the morning. He knew
also that loaestreet was approaching ny
( IhoTouEhiaro Gan. However valuable he
might have supposed the expression of his
views 10 Gen. Pope. in person. they could be OF
/ no ay2a while the misconduct of his own
troops thwartod plan the execution of which
| afforded opportunity for speedy victory.
] He lost his way in the darkness, and, after
( spending portion Of the night with portion
J OF Siegel's command, found carly i'll the MORN
! ing that his owa corps had retired. The sepa-
/ ration was inconsdeTate and unauthorized.
Unwept, unhonored and unsung," he Was
! relieved from active service and heard OF no
more in the war. But while lis ease was in
! progress, seemingly 10 lead tho scent away
from himself he toell the part Of leading wit
ness IN the persecution OF Fitz John Porter II
/ he did not originate the charges. What with
/ the tornado &c events and the scething pas
! sions and excitement OF the times. the popular
ciamor for victim as an example. peUured
testimony, The haste the imperfect knowledge
of the facts, the wrong Interpretation OF cir
cumstanccs, and the scaut deliberaton, we
know what the result was: the conviction OF
the abest, most daring. most subordinate and
devoted General Officer IN the East. But after
an unparalleled and most gallant fight of some
l6 wears, p0rter's complete AMI unqualified
vindicaiion came before Gems. Schofeld (the
present Commander OF the Army, Terry and
Getty, Republicans in politics, and who had
before believed in his gnilt.
Mcdowell now acknowledge (page I'D of
4 the record) that he knew when he gave his
evidence at the courtmartia that it was i'm
possible for Porter to execute Pope's celebrated
order Furthermore. he produced dispatch
that he had suppressed from the time of Bull
Run 10 thai OF giving his eyidence-from 62
10 '7S-whicil proved beyond all doubt, that
Porter could not have received the order until
too late to act upon il, If il had otherwise been
possible. lie Acknowledged that he had circu-
lated printed falsshoods against Porter, gave
an abundant exhibition of his remorse, eX-
pressed has SORROW at what he had done, and
said the whole matter had been a long night
mare TO him.
Gen. Pore was no doubt an exceptionally
able, brave and energetic soldier, aud believe
no one had a stronger stomach for fight, aud
in my ad miration of him ] like to think that
he was un1ittingly led into The course he taok.
AT all events though strongly urged on behalf
of Gen. Porter, be refused TO appear al the last
trial
The court fonnd, with entire unanimity,
and without doubt in their minds. and with
reasons for their conclusions. that not only
was Porter free from blame bnt that he was
all that was faithful, devoted, subordinate and
skilful, and tha: by his ability and jndicious
action he saved Gen. Pope from complete dis
aster, while hearing with his corps the great
brunt OF the fighting, and even IN the battle
he was accused OF shirking.
1t is well known that Gen. Grant contributed
to the North haericm ReUiea1 a complete vim
dieation OF him, t3ough until he Investigated
the case lie had also shared the popular preju-
dice Even so bitter opponent as Gen.
Logan finally acknowledged his error, with
the Count of Paris and hundreds of others dis
Gnguished in oar history.
His services TO the country are well known,
and il would take too long even TO summarize
them, but Hlay say that il IS doubtful whether
another soldier Of his time gave services OF
egGal value. Certainly no other General OFF,
Ger so often put his life in jeopardy for his
country.
OF the 10000 killed and wounded under Lee
during McCiclian's disgrace?ul fight from
Richmond his men entitled TO no end OF
praise. more than three -fourths fell in front
of Porter, with little more than his own corps
the Filth-and he commanding; while, with
the realistic aud splendid story of Buell. fresh
in our minGs. do not forget the artillery. he
also urged Mcclellan to STOP the retreat aud
advance on Richmond instead. Considering
the personal Generalization and deplorable
mental condition Of Mcclellan. il is more than
probable THAI Porter prevented his surrender
OF the army tsee McCiellan's official CORE
spondence), and, hearing of Lees movement
on Washington, departing from the orders he
had received from Mcclellan, OF his own mo-
tion and on his own responsibility, by forced
marches, he few to Pope's rescue and saved
him from overwhelming disaster.
] have. too. to acknowledge that until within
the last few years j have been with the great
majority who have believed in PorGer's guilt,
though without a knowledge of the exact
nature OF the charges, considering that
as the court-martial consisted OF nine cmi-
nent gentlemen Though but FIVE of them
coneurred in the Fcrdict) justified the
suppositiOn being taken for granted. But
upon investigation / have found that not
only is al the evidence in his favor but that
of my OWL personal knowledge having been
with the cavalry under Buford, il would have
been impossible for him to execute the order
be WAS charged with disobeyiug, without con-
sidering that it was practically not received
uHtn dark Besides. Mcdowell took large
force from him and left him in the lurch. and
failed to come in contact with the enemy him.
self according 10 his own admission.
Surely the case OF so great and patriotic
soldier as Gen. Porter should be every honor
able soldiers who marched or fought under
our flag, and surely it is due to him and 10
Schoaeld Terry, and Getty not to assail him
without fully considering the grounds Oh which
the decision was made
Comrade Marvin will find the report of the
West Point Board ut page 5l3, Part II. Vol.
XII, OF the Rebellion Records; Gen. Grants
Yindication, in Vol. CXXXY, No. 3I3, OF the
North American Re1iew both doubtless TO be
found in every public library of any impor-
tance. or course If the three volumes Of eyi-
dence are read so much the better
ComraGe &. d. Webster. 18th Mass, saws of
August 30, at Bull Run: He (McDowelll
moved Us into a place where we were needed
and he calculated on support from Porter which
never came" As the comrade says, too, Nc
D0well was extremely oflicous. With his
usual blunderiug, If not worse, at his instance
Porter was put in where be should not have
been. and IN reality his corps was doing the
heaviest Of the fighting, and hopelessiy, at the
time the comrade thinks he should have sup
ported Mcdowell which was not expected
and, Of course, sustained much the heaviest
loss, and was the last 10 leave the field while
covering the retreat of the army. Probably,
at one time or another, Porter has been blamed
FOR about everything that went wrong in the
second Bull Run campaign. ! myself supposed
he should have attacked Jackson on the 2sth
while We were at Thoroughfare Gap; which.
however, Gen. Pope did not intend or expect
him TO dO.-H. CAPEHART.
AT PHHIPPI