317 p. Damp stained. First leaf soiled. Uncut and unopened. Small 4to. Disbound. Fitz John Porter (1822-1901) was a career U.S. Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His military career was ruined by an unjust court martial called by military and political rivals. Porter's corps was sent to reinforce Maj. Gen. John Pope in the Northern Virginia Campaign, a reassignment that he openly challenged and complained about, criticizing Pope personally. During the Second Battle of Bull Run, on August 29, 1862, he was ordered to attack the flank and rear of "Stonewall" Jackson's wing of the Army of Northern Virginia. He received a message from Pope directing him to attack the Confederate right (which Pope assumed to be Jackson on Stony Ridge), but at the same time to maintain contact with the neighboring division under Gen. Reynolds, a conflict in orders that could not be resolved. Pope was apparently unaware that Confederate Gen. Longstreet's wing of the army had arrived on the battlefield and the proposed envelopment of Jackson's position would have collided suicidally with Longstreet's large force. Porter chose not to make the attack because of the intelligence he had received that Longstreet was to his immediate front. Pope was infuriated and accused Porter of insubordination. Porter remained in command of the corps through the Maryland Campaign and the corps served in a reserve position at the Battle of Antietam. On November 25, 1862, Porter was arrested and court-martialed for his actions at Second Bull Run. By this time, Gen. McClellan had been relieved by President Abraham Lincoln and could not provide political cover for his protege. In fact, Porter's association with the disgraced McClellan and his open criticism of Pope were significant reasons for his conviction at court-martial. The officers of the court were appointed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who detested McClellan, and most of those officers received promotions after they delivered their verdict. Porter was found guilty on January 10, 1863, of disobedience and misconduct, and he was dismissed from the Army. He spent most of the remainder of his life fighting against this injustice. In 1878, a special commission under General John M. Schofield exonerated Porter by finding that his reluctance to attack Longstreet probably saved Pope's Army of Virginia from an even greater defeat. Eight years later, President Chester A. Arthur reversed Porter's sentence and a special act of the U.S. Congress restored Porter's commission as an infantry colonel in the U.S. Army, backdated to 1861, but without any back pay due. Two days later, August 7, 1886, Porter, vindicated, retired from the Army at his own request. SCARCE. SHELF W22
