Show CONGRESS by ily AV V U tele raph to the tl I IlK I r ra niD ID SE aate dec 29 09 the bill to provide for the performance of tho lie d of the de and vice pres ident went was taken up the discussion was continued till when the fitz jolin john porter bill was discussed logon logan made au argument in in opposition to the bill llo beld while congram had power to reinstate porter it had no right to review the court martiale marti als finding in dismissing win the schofield board wlm wb a reviewed the case cate was without authority of law and po popo did right in fit not appearing g before it t it I is d difficult to tell from the report whether tho the trial was of porter or of pope the board evidently did not read tho the record the order ent sent to porter to attack wits not to attack johnsons right hank flank but to attack tho right flank or rear of the enemy which was commanded by longstreet Longst grant in his published article fell into the same saine error tho the board eaid said porters conduct there saved the army the fact was nearly tho the whole confederate erato arn army waa was attacking popes men whilo Z poi porter ter was lying by with with arms blacked stacked if tho the whole union a my had stacked arms nobody would navo nave been hurt but porter save the army by stacking arms the board went upon the erroneous theory odthe of the hading finding of atthe the court mart martial lal based on reports of august instead of the the board perverted and distorted the evidence IQ in every way there was a reason for this at alio time ther board was or caniz cd mcdowell was of the ape age to retire with pope as the next ranking officer ollic cr and two members of the board applicants for hia bis place up to the time of popes nomination and confirmation fir mation a constant war was waged on him hint with a yiew view of breaking him down to gome one ona alses advantage in the effort to make a case for porter it was said that president lincoln was convinced the finding of the court re martial artial was wrong and anti intended to give him a new trial this could not be true lincoln knew he had no such power moreover I he le told robt lincoln the caso case was one which in bis his estimation would have justified a sentence of death it is not true that president garfield repented his action in the court martial as tho the speaker knew from a conversation alt with it him locc logan an had a letter from garfield to gen cox ox of ohio on the subject read in ili conformation porters Porter letter sletter to burnside showed liis his animus to ward pope logan intimated that porter was responsible for the defeat of mcdowell at the first battle of bull atun because ho he persuaded patterson not to attack joe johnston in the valley of ofA Virginia lirginia johnston by moving from lVin winchester chester defeated mcdowell but if patterson had bad attacked him he lie would have been kept in the valley so porter lost both battles of bull kun run just because the army in each was commanded by a western man the fact was mcclellan Port crand erand several others who could ba be named formed a little coterie of regular army officers in the army of tho east rast one of them was to bo be president and the others to be god on only knows what but it was understood among the them even as early as lie the first battle of bull run that no western man shou should d have command of tho the easters army speaking speaking Speak akini inc of porters Portera failure to obey popes orders sto to march for bristow station at one hi the morning logan faid mid you may search military history from cyrus and alexander down to the present time and this is the only instance where you yon will find where a subordinate ever sent word to his bis su superior officer to clear the way so that he c could move laughter to and thero there never was a commanding officer except Gen pope who would not have removed tho the subordinate from his command for sending him such a message gen grant had bad said recently that porter could not have moved because the road was obstructed that great commander logan eaid held beld a dia different opinion upon the subject of rh marching in in sp spite te of obstacles when he be led our armies in the field and in this statement ho he read from Ba badeaux Bade deans aus military history several instances of forced marches made by gen grant ono being a case cue where the troops had bad little or no rest for a week A friend now sits before me eaid said logan loan lo an pointing to miller of california who marched ono rainy night with eix six thousand men tool to opi pa pose le sixty thousand and held them t there li re until the general could como to his relief murmurs of applause mcpherson said gen grant stated as one reason for favoring the bill that a mounted officer who brought the order to gen porter was three P hours ours upon the road in daylight dalight owing to its obstructed condition and lio lie asked askel logan whether ether this was or was not true logan replied if tho the officer was wits three houra hours on the way it was probably because he lie was not in a hurry as the order did not require gen porter to march till one and captain dakay wiio who carried it arrived at As to tho the statement referred rel erred to by mcpherson that there were about 2000 wagons on the road logan said I ever every army army man knew that it aou would I d be I impossible tn to put 2000 wagons upon nine miles of road mcpherson upon ono one of those virginia roads one thousand feet wide logan oil oh then it was a bigger road than a thought it was 11 think the senator ought to correct his arithmetic little logan now that is a curious phase of this matter it was a big road for wagons but a little road for men then laughter logan eaid said the further evidence of a certain captain who marched his company along tho the road that night to li bristow station showed that there was no obstruction on it thero there was some cross firing between logan and mcpherson relative to the merits of gen grants statement and that of the unnamed captain and at four logan yielded for a motion to go 10 into executive sea session sion doors opened and the senate ad adjourned journe I till tuesday |