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A General's 23-Year Fight.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:225.00 USD Estimated At:450.00 - 600.00 USD
A General's 23-Year Fight.
Significant A.L.S. of Union Gen. F(itz-)J(ohn) Porter, on letterhead of Central Rail Road Co. of N.J., Office of the Receiver, N.Y., June 22, 1880, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, 1 p., with conclusion "Believe me, Yours truly..." on verso. To Gen. Gilman Marston, distinguished N.H. commander, and Porter's ally in clearing his name. "I recd. from Gen. Sargent (now very ill) the printed circular signed by you & him - and give my sincere & hearty thanks. Whether used or not, I shall ever be most grateful. Should the written one signed by Gens. Slocum, Smith & Chamberlain reach you, I will thank you to send it to me direct. Gen. C'hamberlain] says he sent it to you some days ago. I sent you my letter to the 5th Corps & I beg you to consider yourself as one I esteem as a 'true friend.'" Porter had been cashiered from service in 1863 "for disobedience, disloyalty, and misconduct in the face of the enemy" at 2nd Bull Run. It took fifteen years for a board to reexamine the evidence; in 1882, the original sentence was reversed by Pres. Arthur. Finally, in 1886, Porter was reappointed, but without back pay; he resigned two days later - the "battle over the battle" having gone on for some 23 years. Anticlimactically, in 1887 "...the Schofield Board concluded after a year's investigation that Porter was relieved, tried, and professionally ruined for failure to obey an impossible order. The Board stated that Porter's attack order...'was based...upon expectations which could not possibly be realized'...The Board...commended him for not needlessly sacrificing his own troops (in order to protect his own reputation). As for Steele's accusation that Porter '...ought not to have stood idle with 10,000 men during the whole afternoon, while a battle was raging close at his right hand,' the Board reported: 'The display of troops made by Porter earlier in the afternoon had...all possible beneficial effect...'"--Boatner. Original mailing folds, light tip and handling wear, else fine.