1004 Series I Volume XII-II (Supp.) Serial 17 - Second Manassas Part II (Supplemental)
Page 1004 | OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., AND MD. Chapter XXIV. |
from General Porter containing any such expressions. I am almost sure that none of his dispatches while on the Rappahannock converged any such impression to me."
Question. The question was intended, if possible, to find out whether General Porter went into that department-that command-with unfavorable impressions toward General Pope, or whether those impressions were gained after he was on the gained after he was on the ground.
Answer. He moved his troops off rapidly, and marched them at night, and everything within my limits appeared to me to indicate that he was determined to get his troops up there as rapidly as possible; I saw nothing to indicate the reverse.
Question. Are you of the opinion that the impression in the army with regard to General Pope was of such a character as might have tended to the embarrassment of his military operations?
Answer. I think it was.
Question. Was it from the dispatches you received from General Porter that you first learned, or formed the opinion, that he lacked confidence in the management of the campaign under General Pope?
Answer. I think not; I felt that he did not confidence in him when he first started to join him; but, still, I cannot locate any time when I ever heard him say one word against General Pope.
Question. Were the expressions of the officers you refer to, relating to the policy of the operations of the Army of Virginia, confined to officers belonging to the Army of the Potomac?
Answer. No, sir.
Question. Did the doubts of those officers seem to relate to the general policy of the movement of the Army of Virginia toward the Rapidan or the Rappahannock Valley, or to the mode of its execution under General Pope?
Answer. I never heard any objection to the plan that made any impression upon me; but there was a strong distrust as to General Pope being able to carry out the plain.
Question. At what time was General Porter relieved from guarding the fords of the Rappahannock?
Answer. That question I cannot answer as to dates. I sent troops up to relieve him as soon as they could be spared, and I held the fords of the Rappahannock for several days after General Pope left that line, and brought in some of the guards he had left at Rappahannock Station.
Question. Was it, or not, before General Porter joined the command of General Pope that he was relieved from this duty of guarding the fords?
Answer. I think General Porter had joined General Pope before he was entirely relieved from the duty of guarding the fords. That has always been my impression; that the head of his column had joined General Popel some time before he ceased to guard all the fords.
Question. At what place, so far as his military duties were concerned, was General Porter supposed to be entirely under the command of General Pope?
Answer. When he joined him, I suppose.
Question. After General Porter joined the army of General Pope, was he under you command in any way, except to make these reports to you?
Answer. To make these reports and to be supplied by me. So far as military operations were concerned, he was under General Pope's command; but on that line I
Page 1004 | OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., AND MD. Chapter XXIV. |