CHAP. I. Vol. XII., ment, p. 878. W. R. Part II., p. 509. 1862. There is much discussion whether this order was delivered at five or six o'clock. Captain Douglass Supple Pope, who bore it, says it was delivered at the earlier hour; General Porter claims that it was an hour later; but, at all events, Porter, who had found indications of a strong force in his front, waited in position till it grew dark and then retired. That night General Pope in deep exasperation sent an order to Porter, couched in harsh and perempVol. XII., tory terms, directing him to report in person with his command on the field for orders. Early next morning, August 30, Porter reported with all of his command but one brigade; and on this day one of the most sanguinary conflicts of the war, the second battle of Bull Run, was fought. It was a battle which General Pope was under no necessity of fighting. He might easily have retired behind Bull Run and waited until Franklin's corps, which had been moving from Alexandria with inexplicable slowness, had joined him and replenished his supplies. But the false reports of a retreat by the enemy, the admirable fighting qualities of his troops displayed on the 29th before his eyes, and the fact that on the 30th he had Porter's magnificent corps under his immediate orders, and more than all perhaps the temperament of the man, who was always ready to fight when there was a fair chance for him, determined him to stay where he was and to risk a new battle on that historic field. He made a mistake in supposing that the principal force against him was north of the Warrenton turnpike. He placed, therefore, the bulk of his own army on that side and attacked with great energy early in the afternoon. Porter's corps fought with its old time bravery; but his troops having come within СНАР. І. the range of the enfilading fire of Longstreet's guns, the attack failed on the left. Later, Longstreet advanced on the Confederate right. A furious struggle took place for the possession of Bald Hill, west of the Sudley Springs road; and later Sykes's regulars, successfully defending into the night the Henry House hill from the assault of the Confederates, covered the retreat of the Union army across the Stone bridge to Centreville. On both sides it was one of the hardest fought battles of the war. The day after the battle General Lee made no attempt to pursue or molest Pope's army; but on the evening of the 1st of September he essayed his usual flanking experiment with Jackson's corps upon the Union right wing at Chantilly. Pope had foreseen this and prepared for it, and a very severe action took place, beginning at sunset and terminating in the darkness, in the midst of a furious thunder-storm. Jackson had gone too fast and too far. He was readily repulsed, but the Union army met with a heavy loss in the death of Generals Philip Kearny and Isaac I. Stevens. There were few men in the service more able, industrious, modest, and faithful than Stevens; and Kearny was an ideal soldier-brave, cool, patient, and loyal. On the morning of the 1st, Pope, who seemed far more dispirited and discouraged by the evident hostility towards him existing among the officers of the Army of the Potomac than by any of his losses in battle, had telegraphed to General Halleck his opinion that the army should be withdrawn to the intrenchments in front of Washington, and in that 1862. CHAP. I. W. R. "When secure place reorganized and rearranged. there is no heart in their leaders," he says, " and Vol. XII., every disposition to hang back, much cannot be expected from the men." These orders were given the same day, and the army was brought back without molestation. Part II., p. 83. Ibid., Part III., p. 787. Aug., 1862. From official copies. General Pope attributed the failure of this campaign to General Porter's inaction and his disobedience of orders upon the 27th and 29th. The general court martial, composed of officers of high rank and character, by which the charges were considered, found General Porter guilty and sentenced him to be cashiered. He, assured of his own integrity, persistently protested against the injustice of this sentence, and sought in every possible way to have it reversed. General Grant refused, while he remained President, to reopen the case,1 though in his later years 1 While General Grant was President General Porter made every effort to have his case re-opened, and it has been charged that General Pope used his influence to prevent it. The record shows that General Pope wrote to the President April 18, 1874, asking him to examine as fully into the question as he thought justice or mercy demanded; or to order a board of competent officers of high rank, unconnected with the armies or transactions involved, to investigate fully the statements of the new evidence made by General Porter, etc., etc. General Grant answered on the 9th of May, saying in effect that Pope had not tried to prevent a rehearing, and adding: "I read during the trial the evidence and the final findings of the Court, look ing upon the whole trial as one of great importance, and particularly so to the army and navy. When General Porter's subsequent defense was published I received a copy of it, and read it with care and attention, determined, if he had been wronged, and I could right him, I would do so. My conclusion was that no new facts were developed that could be fairly considered, and that it was of doubtful legality whether, by the mere authority of the Executive, a rehearing could be given." General Porter claims, on the evidence of the Hon. W. A. Newell, of New Jersey, that President Lincoln changed his mind in regard to this case, and reproaches the authors of this work for not following his alleged ex he changed his mind and wrote a paper in favor of CHAP. I. General Porter. An advisory board consisting of Generals Schofield, Terry, and Getty, appointed by President Hayes to reëxamine the case, acquitted General Porter of all blame except for indiscreet and unkind criticism of his superior officer. A bill was passed by Congress restoring him to the army, but it was vetoed by President Arthur, who, however, removed Porter's continuing disabilities by an executive order. The question became involved in political considerations and feelings, and when a quarter of a century later the Democratic party had gained control of the House of Representatives and the Presidency, General Porter was restored to his former place in the regular army and honorably retired. The act for his relief was passed by a vote of 171 to 113 in the House of Representatives and of 30 to 17 in the Senate, all the Democrats in each case voting solidly in his favor and a large majority of the Republicans against him. With all the testimony adduced it is probable that Porter would not have been convicted had it not been for his own letters written during the progress of the campaign. It was these letters ample. It is not our custom to quote Mr. Lincoln's expressions from memory; we will therefore only say that our recollection does not agree with Mr. Newell's. And the President's son, Robert T. Lincoln, gave evidence, before the same board, which agreed with our own positive impression as to Mr. Lincoln's views of General Porter's sentence. 1 In a letter of August 27, to Burnside from Warrenton Junction, he says: "I find a vast difference between these troops CHAP. I. 1862. which furnished the theory of the prosecution of Porter that he felt the good of the army and of the country required that Pope should be deposed from the command for which he believed him unfit, and that McClellan should have his old army back again. Amid all the confusion of counsels and the inefficiency of those in high places, it is cheering to observe the coolness and energy with which some of the subordinate officers did their work. Among these Colonel Herman Haupt, chief of Railway Construction and Transportation, deserves a word of notice. Much of the information the Government received during these troubled days came from him. In default of intelligent orders, he himself set on foot reconnaissances and measures of relief. On one occasion, August 27, having proposed an expedition to convey forage and subsistence to Pope's army, he was directed to see McClellan, if possible, and consult with him; otherwise to go ahead as proposed. He gives this account of the interview which took place between him and the general at Alexandria, after he had found him on a transport near that place. Haupt told him all the news he had gathered, and asked for permission and a small escort to send a train with supplies to Pope, who was desperately in want of everything. General McClellan listened, and when Haupt ceased, they have a contempt for this Army of Virginia. I wish myself away from it with all our old Army of the Potomac, and so do our companions. . . If you can pp. 700, 733. get me away, please do so." On the morning of the 29th he wrote: "I hope Mac is at work W. R. Vol. XII., Part III., and we will soon get ordered out of this. It would seem, from proper statements of the enemy, that he was wandering around loose; but I expect they know what they are doing, which is more than any one here or anywhere knows." |