Today in History:

889 Series I Volume XII-II (Supp.) Serial 17 - Second Manassas Part II (Supplemental)

Page 889 Chapter XXIV. CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

Hooker something over 90,000 rounds. About 2 or 3 o'clock I had sent forward to General Porter some 320,000 rounds, and had seized wagons to forward the balance, and left Captain Piatt in charge. The business being then sufficiently forward, I went on to find General Pope. On getting to the point where I had left General Pope in the morning, I found he had moved on, and, to inquire the road he had taken, i went to General Porter's headquarters, near the Manassas water station. I found General Porter in his tent, and asked him which road General Pope had taken, and he informed me. i had some ten minutes' conversation with him. One of his staff was present; I forget his name.

Question. Will you state that conversation?

Answer. After asking him about the road, I told General Porter the amount of ammunition that i had sent forward to him, and also that the balance would come immediately forward. I asked him if he had received it, or made some remark; I cannot remember the exact expression. General Porter said that he had not; that was the substance of his reply-either that he had received hardly any of it, or none of it, if I remember aright. I expressed some surprise, and said that it had been sent forward to the front, as ordered; and, either in reply to some question of mine or to some remark, or of himself, he said that he had no officers to take charge of it and distribute it,or look it up, or something of that kind. I remarked that he could hardly expect us at headquarters to be able to send officers to distribute it in his corps; that it had been send forward ont he road, in the direction where his corps was. He replied that it was going where it belonged; that it was on the road to Alexandria, where were we all going. I do not know as it is evidence to give the spirit in which this was said-the way it impressed me. Those remarks were made in a sneering manner, and appeared to me to express a great indifference. There was then a pause for a moment. General Porter then spoke in regard to the removal of the sick and wounded from the field of Kettle Run. He said it would hurt Pope, leaving the wounded behind. I told him that they were not to be left behind; that i knew that a positive order-an imperative order-had been given to General Banks to bring all the wounded with him, and for that purpose to throw property out of the wagons if necessary. To this General porter made no reply in words; but his manner to me expressed the same feeling that i had noticed before. This conversation, from General Porter's manner and look, made a strong impression on my mind. I left him, as I have sid, after an interview of about ten minutes, and rode on, arriving at our headquarters on Bull Run just as we entered them and pitched our tents for the night. After my tent was pitched, and I had had something to eat, I went over to General Pope, and reported to him briefly what I had done in regard to the ammunition. I then said to him, "General, I was General Porter on my way here." Said he, "Well, sir." I said, "General, he will fail you." "Fail me," said he; "what he said enough; he is going to fail you." These expressions I retreat. I think I remember them with exactness, for I was excited at the time from the impression that had been made upon me. Said General Pope, "How can he fail me? He will fight where I put him; he will fight where I put him;" or, "He must fight where I put him; he must fight where I put him"-one of those expressions. This General Pope said with a great deal of feeling, and impetuously and perhaps overbearingly, and in an excited manner. I replied in the same way, saying that I was so certain that Fitz John Porter was a traitor, that i would shoot him that night, so far as any crime before God was concerned, if the law would allow me to do it. I speak of this to show the conviction that I received from General Porter's manner and expressions in that interview. I have only to add that my prepossessions of him were favorable, as it was at headquarter, up to that time. I never had entertained any impression against him until that conversation. I knew nothing with regard to his orders to move up to Kettle Run, and I knew nothing of any failure on his part to comply with any orders.

Question. State more distinctly the point where you saw General Porter on the 28th of August.

Answer. He was encamped at the Manassas water station, between Bristoe and the junction. The water station was a short distance from his headquarters. [The witness indicted upon the map before the court where he thought the place to be.] I do not think the water station is more than one-third the distance from Bristoe to Manassas Junction. That is my impression; I cannot speak positively about it.

Question. In the conversation to which you refer, did, or did not. General Porter manifest any anxiety to get possession of, and have distributed in his corps, the ammunition of which you speak?

Answer. No sir; I thought he showed an utter indifference upon the subject; showed it very plainly.


Page 889 Chapter XXIV. CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA.