, who wanted a scape-goat to cover up their own
shortcomings. For over twenty years this grand American soldier, the
soul of honor, who would at any moment sacrifice his life sooner than be
guilty of an act inconsistent with his noble profession, has been
permitted to live under the unjust stigma cast upon him. The day will
surely come, and it is not far distant, when the American people will
blush for the great wrong done Fitz John Porter. They will agree with
the late general of our armies, a man whose memory will be forever held
in grateful remembrance by his country (U. S. Grant), who, after careful
and mature investigation of his conduct at the Second Battle of Bull
Run, said deliberately, that Fitz John Porter should not be censured for
the mismanagement of that ill-fated battle. In military affairs Gen.
Grant was always a safe guide to follow.

After a careful review of Gen. Porter's case, Gen Grant wrote President
Arthur, under date of December 22, 1881, as follows:

"At the request of Gen. Fitz John Porter, I have recently reviewed
his trial, and the testimony held before the Schofield court of
inquiry held in 1879.... The reading of the whole record has
thoroughly convinced me that for these nineteen years I have been
doing a gallant and efficient soldier a very great injustice in
thought and sometimes in speech. I feel it incumbent upon me now to
do whatever lies in my power to remove from him and from his family
the stain upon his good name.... I am now convinced that he
rendered faithful, efficient and intelligent service.... I would
ask that the whole matter be laid before the attorney-general for
his examination and opinion, hoping that you will be able to do
this much for an officer who has suffered for nineteen years a
punishment that never should be inflicted upon any but the most
guilty."

It was many months before I again saw the Ninth Massachusetts; but what
a contrast to its appearance on that glorious April morning, in 1862,
when I was the recipient of its warm hospitality among the pines on the
threshold of the advance on the rebel capital.

JOHN DWYER.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 9: While the Sixty-Third was in Camp of Instruction on David's
Island, in the East River, opposite New Rochelle, N. Y., it was under
the spiritual care of Father Dillon, an enthusiastic young priest. H