evidently desired to make it perfectly clear that he had not adopted
the opinion of a board of which I was a member, nor that of any
one else; but that he had thoroughly mastered the case for himself,
and formed his own judgment in regard to it. I take pleasure in
recording the fact that he unquestionably had done it, and I never
knew a man who could form more positive opinions, or one who could
express them more convincingly, than General Grant.

The board was not called upon the express any opinion respecting
the action of the court-martial upon the evidence before it, and
it would have been manifestly improper to do so. Speaking for
myself, and not for any other member of the board, I do not now
hesitate to say that the finding and sentence of the general court-
martial which tried General Fitz-John Porter were not justified by
the evidence before that court. In my judgment, formed from long
observation and much experience, the passions of warfare often
render the administration of justice impossible. A suggestion once
made to me by a man in very high military authority, that a finding
and sentence of court-martial rendered in time of war should be
regarded as _res adjudicata_, produced in my mind the painful
impression that a very great man did not find the word "justice"
anywhere in his vocabulary; and I watched for many years the
conversation and writings and public speeches of that man without
finding that he ever made use of that word, or ever gave as a reason
for doing or not doing anything that it would be just or unjust.
In his mind, whatever might have happened to any person was simply
a matter of good or bad fortune which did not concern him. He
refused even to consider the question whether injustice had or had
not been done, or whether the operation of a law was not relatively
unjust to some as compared to others. When to such natural character
and habits of thought are added the stern necessities of war as
viewed by a commander and many other officers, what possible chance
of justice can be left to an _unfortunate_ man?

It is true that even if the life of an innocent man may have been
sacrificed under the stern necessities of discipline, that is no
more than thousands of his fellow-soldiers have suffered because
of the crimes and follies of politicians who brought on the war.
But that is no reason why his memory as well as those of his comrades
should not be finally honored, if it can be proved