20G 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (Frrz-JonN PORTER'S CASE.) 



and consent of the Senate, to appoint Fitz-John Por- 

 ter, late a major-general of the United States Volun- 

 teers and a brevet brigadier-general and colonel of the 

 Army, to the position of colonel in the Army of the 

 United States^ of the same grade and rank, together 

 with all the rights, titles, and privileges held by him 

 at the time of his dismissal from the Army by sentence 

 of court-martial promulgated Jan. 27, 1863, and, in his 

 discretion, to place him on the retired list of the Army 

 as of that grade, the retired list being there by increased 

 in number to that extent ; and all laws and parts of 

 laws in conflict herewith are suspended for this pur- 

 pose only ; but this act shall not be construed as au- 

 thorizing pay, compensation, or allowance prior to 

 appointment' under it. 



The usual acrimonious debate followed. Per- 

 haps the most interesting thing in the discussion 

 in the House was the illustration drawn from 

 the career of Gen. Sherman by Mr. Slocum, who 

 had charge of the bill. Alluding to the love 

 of the soldiers of the Fifth Corps for Porter, 

 and the ability of soldiers to estimate the 

 character of a general, he said of the closing 

 incidents of Sherman's most celebrated cam- 

 paign : 



" On the day after we left Raleigh on the 

 march toward Richmond, large packages <of 

 New York papers were brought to our camps 

 for sale. Without orders from their officers, 

 the soldiers speedily suppressed and destroyed 

 them. An intelligent soldier of my command 

 explained the acts of his associates. He said: 



These papers are teeming with abuse of Gen. Sher- 

 man, charging him with insubordination, a violation 

 of his orders, and some of them even insinuating that 

 ho is disloyal all on account of his treaty with Gen. 

 Johnston. We do not intend to have these slanders 

 against the man we have followed so many hundreds 

 or miles circulated among the boys. 



"I felt that these men better appreciated 

 the merits of their commander than did some 

 of the authorities in Washington. Just before 

 we arrived at Richmond, another batch of New 

 York papers came to our camps, announcing 

 that a new department had been created the 

 Department of the James; that Gen. Halleck 

 had been assigned to the command, and or- 

 dered Generals Meade, Sheridan, and Wright to 

 invade that part of North Carolina occupied 

 by Sherman, and disregard his truce with Gen. 

 Johnston, and pay no attention to his (Sher- 

 man's) orders. In my presence Sherman de- 

 clared that, if an attempt had been made to 

 execute that order, ho would have defended 

 his truce if it had cost the lives of half his 

 command. I was with him when he received 

 a note from Gen. Halleck, asking to be allowed 

 to review the army as it passed through the 

 streets of Richmond, and I saw him write a 

 reply, saying that, so far from giving him a 

 review, he deemed it his duty to say that it 

 would he unsafe for Gen. Halleck to be seen 

 in the streets. 



" I stood beside Gen. Sherman on the grand 

 stand at the other end of this avenue when the 

 armies of the Union, in the presence of all the 

 chief civil officers of the Government and the 

 representatives of all foreign countries with 



whom we have diplomatic relations, were be- 

 ing reviewed ; and I saw Gen. Sherman, in the 

 face of this vast concourse, refuse the proffered 

 hand of the officer of the Government who, in 

 the closing days of brilliant services in the field, 

 had brought so much undeserved reproach on 

 him ; and I honored him for it. A most cruel 

 arid defenseless attempt bad been made to rob 

 him of his hard-earned reputation. 



" But it may be said, Why revert to these 

 painful events, now that some of the chief actors 

 in them are in their graves? I have a purpose 

 in it. First, I wish to make it apparent to 

 every member of this House that in the heat 

 and excitement of a civil war the purest and 

 ablest officer is liable to be stricken down with- 

 out cause. 



"At the close of the war one wing of Sher- 

 man's army was commanded by Gen. Logan 

 and the other by myself. I wish to remind 

 the old soldiers of that army that the very 

 weapons used to strike down Porter were 

 wielded by the same hands against Sherman ; 

 and it is my firm conviction that had not the 

 war been brought to a successful close imme- 

 diately after Sherman's treaty with Johnston, 

 an attempt would have been made to place 

 his name side by side with that of Fitz-John 

 Porter, and instead of commanding the army 

 eighteen years after the war, and then retir- 

 ing with the love and admiration of a grateful 

 people, he might to-day have been vainly plead- 

 ing at the doors of Congress for a rehearing of 

 his case, pleading his previous good character, 

 his great services to his country, and the heat 

 and passion of the hour when the cruel verdict 

 was rendered against him, precisely as Porter 

 is now doing." 



The measure passed the House February 1, 

 by the following vote : 



YEAS J. J. Adams, Alexander, Arnot, Bagley, 

 Ballentine, Barbour, Bayne, Beach. Belmont, Ben- 

 nett, Blanchard, Bland, Blount, Boyle, Breckinridge, 

 Broadhead, Buchanan, Buckner, Burleigh, Cabell, 

 Caldwell, Candler, Carleton, Cassidv. Clardy, Clay, 

 Clements, Cobb, Collins, Connolly, Cook, Gosgrove, 

 S. S. Cox, W. R. Cox, Crisp, D. B. Culberson, Cur- 

 tin, Dargan. Davidson, L. H. Davis, Deuster, Dibrell, 

 Dockery, Dorsheimer, Dowd, Duncan, Eldredge, 

 J. H. Evins, Terrell, Fiedler. Findlay, Finerty, Fol- 

 lett, Foran, Forney, Fyan, Gibson, Glascock, Graves, 

 Green, Greenleaf, Halsell, Harmer, W. H. Hatch! 

 Haynes, Hemphill. Henley, Herbert, A. S. Hewitt, 

 G. W. Hewitt, Hill, Holman, Hopkins, Houseman, 

 Hunt, Hurd, Hutchins, James, Jeffords, B. W. Jones, 

 J. K. Jones, J. T. Jones, Jordan, Kean, King, Kleiner, 

 Laird, Lamb, Lanham, Le Fevre, Lewis, Long, Lore, 

 Lovering,Lowry, Lyman, McAdoo.McMillin, Matson, 

 Mayburv, J. F. Miller, Mitchell, Morgan, Morrison, 

 Morse, Moulton, Muldrow, Murphy, Murray, Mutch- 

 ler, Ncece, Nicholls, Gates, O'Hara, J. J. O'Neill, Pat- 

 ton, Pierce, S. W. Peel, Phelps, Poland, Post.Potter, 

 Pryor, Pusey, Eankin, Ranney, Ossian Ray, Reagan, 

 Rcese.Riggs, Robertson, W. E. Robinson, Rockwell, 

 J. H. Rogers, W. F. Rogers, Rosecrans, Scales, Seney, 

 Seymour, Shaw, Singleton, T. G. Skinner, Slocum, 

 Smith, Snyder, Spriggs, Springer, Stevens, Charles 

 Stewart, J. W. Stewart, Stockslager, Storm, C. A. Sum- 

 ner, D. H. Sumner.J. M. Taylor, Thompson. Throck- 

 morton, .Tillman, Townshend, Tucker, Tully, H. G. 

 Turner, Oscar Turner, Van Alstyne, Vance,Van Eaton, 



