Ulysses S. Grant
Published: 2015-08-04
Total Pages: 28
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Excerpt from General Grant's Unpublished Correspondence: In the Case of Gen. Fitz-John Porter General Grant, from 1866 to 1876, was successively General-in-Chief, Secretary of War, and President. While holding these positions applications were made to the President by Fitz-John Porter for a rehearing of his case, upon new testimony not attainable during the trial before the court-martial, and which could only be obtained after the war was ended. All of these applications were presented to General Grant. Porter's first appeal was indorsed by ex-Presidents, a judge of the Supreme Court, who had been present at the trial, and by other able jurists. It was also strongly recommended by Senators, Representatives in Congress, Governors, Generals, and other ofificers in the army, and was sustained by undoubted evidence of officers who had been high in command in the Confederate Army and present at the time of the occurrence of the events which were involved in Porters trial. The President favored the appeal, and Acting Secretary of War General Grant, (then general) without whose approval Porter would not have asked for a reopening of the case, so far coincided as to say to Porter that he should return to his home, where, in four days, he would receive the order for a Board, to 7 neet at West Pomt, where all improper mfiuences would have to go and would be discovered. So convinced of the justice of Porters claim was General Grant this soldier then highest in command in the army, and since twice honored with the highest trust in the Nations gift that he said of Porter: Not only ought he to have the rehearing, but every member of the court which sentenced him should be glad to have the opportunity to join in the appeal; and also, if injustice has been done by the finding of the court, resulting in a severe sentence, damaging him professionally and otherwise, every opportunity which the law allows should be given to exculpate him;p1f However, Grant had faith in the integrity of his former jslamate, the prosecutor and principal witness against Porter, and believed that a courtmartial, composed of officers of high rank, some of whom were of known ability and honor, could not have been deceived. He yielded to the importunate expostulations of the prosecutor and to the statements of officials on whom he felt he could rely, and withheld the order. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
