244 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (THE FITZ-JOHN PORTEB CASE.) 



as patriotic as any man in the history of the 

 nation. 



"Fitz-John Porter, in April, 1861, then a 

 major on the staff of Gen. Scott, was sent by 

 the War Department to Harrishurg, Pa., to 

 aid the State authorities in organizing and for- 

 warding the troops of that State to the seat of 

 war at Washington. He had not been in the 

 State forty-eight hours before communication 

 by mail and telegraph was cut off between the 

 two cities, and he was left to act upon his own 

 responsibility. He was equal to the emergency. 

 Not only did he perform the duties to which 

 he had been assigned in Pennsylvania with 

 great zeal, tact, industry, and wonderful vigi- 

 lance, as will be and has been testified to by 

 the then State authorities, who were them- 

 selves without any military experience, but, 

 knowing the utterly helpless condition of the 

 authorities at Washington, he assumed author- 

 ity in the name of the commanding general, 

 and directed the movements of troops from 

 other States particularly the troops from the 

 State of Ohio who were en route to Washing- 

 ton and passing through Pennsylvania. He 

 never seemed to eat or to sleep, but was eter- 

 nally on the alert, cheering the men by his zeal 

 and his confidence, aiding the authorities by ad- 

 vice, and instructing them how to bring order 

 out of chaos. 



" It became my duty to take charge of the 

 railroad from Harrisburg to Baltimore, and 

 while so engaged an incident occurred in my 

 office which impressed me greatly at the time, 

 and which, it has always seemed to me, should 

 atone to a great extent for any errors Gen. 

 Porter may have committed, if any, at a later 

 period of the war. It was to a great extent 

 through him, in my judgment, that the services 

 of Gen. George H. Thomas were secured to 

 the side of the Union. 



"Gen. Thomas, then Major Thomas, was 

 stationed at Carlisle Barracks ; there were at 

 the same time two other majors of the army 

 stationed at the same place, I have forgotten 

 their names (but that is immaterial, for the 

 records of the War Department will show), 

 when an order was received from the War 

 Department by a messenger who came across 

 the country, directing Major Porter to send 

 the troops then at Carlisle to Washington, with 

 directions to have them cut their way through. 

 It is the language of this order which makes 

 me say that this was at one of the darkest 

 periods of the war. The capital of the nation 

 was menaced by an enemy camping within a 

 few^ miles of it, and had but a handful of men 

 for its protection. 



"Porter, with a quick perception of the 

 gravity of the situation, and showing a thor- 

 ough knowledge of the fitness of the man for 

 the duty to be performed, selected Thomas 

 from the three majors, and ordered him to re- 

 port to him at my office in Harrisburg, that 

 being Porter's headquarters. Thomas arrived 

 there promptly the same evening. When in- 



formed of the duty to be performed, Thomas 

 hesitated, and then began a conversation be- 

 tween the two officers which continued until 

 morning, and made a lasting impression on my 

 mind. Thomas argued against the war, taking 

 the ground that the trouble had been brought 

 upon the country by the abolitionists of the 

 North, and that while deploring it as sincerely 

 as any man could, the South had just cause for 

 complaint; Porter took the position that he, 

 Thomas, as a soldier had no right to look at 

 the cause of the trouble, but as an officer of 

 the United States army it was his duty to de- 

 fend his flag whenever it was attacked, wheth- 

 er by foes from without or from within. Por- 

 ter pleaded as zealously, as eloquently, as I have 

 ever heard any man plead a cause in which his 

 whole heart was engaged, and it was this plead- 

 ing which caused Thomas to arrive at a decis- 

 ion. 



"I do not say that Thomas refused to obey 

 his orders, but I do say that he hesitated and 

 would much have preferred that the duty had 

 devolved upon another. Thomas was a Virgin- 

 ian, and had, as many other good and patriotic 

 men, great doubts as to the advisability of the 

 Government coercing the States back into the 

 Union that had by their Legislatures formally 

 withdrawn, but having that night decided to 

 remain with the Union, from that time for- 

 ward there was no doubt, no hesitancy, no 

 wavering, but an earnest, hearty support to the 

 side which had for its motto the maintenance 

 of the Union, and to-day his name is among 

 the brightest, best, and purest of its military 

 heroes. If Fitz-John Porter was to any extent 

 instrumental in saving this great name to our 

 list of military heroes, I ask should not this 

 country be grateful to him ? I think it should. 



" As to Fitz-John Porter's action at the sec- 

 ond battle of Bull Run, for which he was tried, 

 I confess my inability to judge. Able military 

 men differ, both sides, in my belief, being 

 equally sincere in their convictions, and both 

 sides being anxious to do Porter justice and 

 justice only, as they view his acts. That there 

 is a prejudice against Porter in the minds of 

 many good people I know, and an instance 

 which came under my notice within the last 

 few days will fully illustrate it. 



" I received a letter from a very worthy and 

 intelligent gentleman residing in Harrisburg, 

 in which he states that he has been reliably 

 informed that at the time Mr. Lincoln passed 

 through Harrisburg, in February, 1861, Fitz- 

 John Porter was with him, and when it was 

 determined that Mr. Lincoln would go via 

 Philadelphia by night instead of by day, direct 

 through Baltimore, that Porter protested most 

 violently ; and then the writer propounded the 

 question, ' Did not Porter know of the mob 

 which was waiting to meet him on ,his arriv- 

 al? ' I replied to his letter as follows : 



" I am in receipt of your letter of the 4th instant 

 and note what you say in reference to Fitz-John Por- 

 ter's opposition to President Lincoln's route to Wash- 





