The Controversial Court Martial of Fitz John Porter

After the Battle of Second Manassas, Porter garnered much of the blame for the defeat. He was subsequently court martialed and cashiered for his conduct during the battle. He spent the next 25 years trying to exonerate his name.

[@unbreakable7633]

Porter was wronged, one of the Union's best generals. His performance at Gaines Mill against larger odds deserves respect.

[@Baseballnfj]

I used to live next to his home of the 1870's where he passed in Morristown NJ. Which bizarrely.... was a naval town.

[@ftffighter]

Matt with another amazing lecture! Never a bad talk, I want to come down and take a tour with you so bad.

[@talk-supersix-seven6021]

Same, let’s ask Atkinson to take us into a cornfield, I want it so bad too

[@atldon]

Porter messed up by expressing his political opinions casting doubts in the abilities of his superiors in writing. He pissed the wrong people off and paid for it dearly.

[@paulstan9828]

Nice job Mr Atkinson. I always enjoy your lectures. I got the David Letterman joke by the way! Ha!! Thanks again.

[@robertbush8327]

Matt is such a great orator. He brings History alive, makes you see the big picture. He has definitely found his calling.

[@hugowiberg1843]

Come and visit his statue in Portsmouth New Hampshire! The NH Civil War Roundtable had an event there last month with reenactors and lectures.

[@MrAuk929]

Great lecture! Many thanks Matt.

[@DarthPlato]

I like this lecture series. I wish something like it existed for the Napoleonic Wars.

[@Baseballnfj]

Dude.... I'm sure it does

[@rvz77]

Incredibly fascinating 👏 Thank you Matt

[@jtofgc]

Now that's a straight talker right there. He told us what we were gonna do and then we did it.

[@ajones1961]

A good lecture is one that conveys the sense of the time and clearly presents facts. You nailed it Mr. Atkinson.

[@TRIChuckles]

Thank you for another good presentation!

[@davidrobinson9043]

I fear that Whiskey than I do John Pope! BURN IT!" Can you imagine the look on those Rebs when they heard that order?

[@Dragineez774]

The same look on my face when I heard it.

[@suzannetaylor366]

Porter treated so unfairly..he was a good Corp commander and a fighter

[@marymoriarity2555]

Of course Lincoln was a politician not a saint. There are scapegoats in every war

[@shiningstaer]

I LOVE HIM AS A SPEAKER, does he have any books out??

[@carywest9256]

He is supposed to be writing about The Seize of Vicksburg. He has a NPS video ,don't know how far along he gotten with his writing.

[@Baseballnfj]

Porter lived for the rest of his life in Morristown, NJ in a neighborhood full of navy veterans. Today the house still stands on 1 Farragut Place, Morristown, NJ. Across the street is the Kedge, and 1880 architectural gem owned by a Naval officer. The creator of the popular image of Santa and political cartoonist Thomas Nast Home is nearby... as is a family home of Admiral Perry.

[@Baseballnfj]

It makes sense that he was from a naval family.. i used to live next to his 1870's home in Morristown, NJ... which was home to many retired naval officers prior to the 1900's. I always wondered why he chose to live here and it must be the naval connection. Also, he was close with McClellan and he adopted NJ as his home state. NJ was a very interesting place during the Civil war and was something of a refuge for anti-lincoln people. The town of Belvidere in Warren County passed an ordinance of succession and Jersey was the only place to vote against Lincoln in the 1864 election.

[@Heystraw]

There... I learned something new again.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

I'm currently reading about the Second Manassas campaign in Lee's Lieutenants, Campaigns of the Civil War vol.4, "Pope's Army" and Battles & Leaders. I'm thinking that Porter had faults at 2M, but not egregious enough to be cashiered, as the later hearing found also. Much of his problem was a failure to communicate to Pope what was holding him back from attacking, namely Longstreet's whole damn corp on his left flank!

[@theRappinSpree]

Pope wouldn’t have believed him

[@hardy3089]

Matt without his hat just feels weird lol great lecture as always

[@moss8448]

All wars have scapegoats; its the ones that get away with things that are the ones that need to be high-lighted and exposed.

[@acdragonrider]

Sheridan for unfairly relieving Warren of command.

[@alanaadams7440]

You would think that the confederate capital would have been moved further south for safety from the Union army

[@carywest9256]

I paused at the 16:24 minute mark because the state map of Virginia is in error. The western counties had'nt broken away from the rest of the parent State of Virginia yet It will be a full year before those (secede) which technicaly should be illegal. If the 11 States that broke away to form the C.S.A. was illegal.Then how can a number of counties break away to form a different State?

[@gkelly941]

Not a bad paper, but reading a paper does not transform it into a lecture. By the way, the word "pique", meaning "in a snit," is pronounced "peek." More seriously, by committing his injudicious negative opinions of his superiors to paper, Porter exposed himself to criticsm and dismissal. Witness Gen. McCrystal. Note that Grant was celebrated for transmitting his orders in clear and unambiguous language. And if Porter believed that Pope did not have a clear understanding of the situation, shouldn't he have sent Pope information to clarify the situation?

[@burrellbikes4969]

Had Porter stayed in active command - I wonder when he would have been senior and potentially taken command of the AOTP? Was he more senior than Burnside? Hooker? Mead?

[@Baskerville22]

Notice in the photo of Lincoln & McClellan at 41.30 - shorty McClellan is seated in a chair that's much higher than Lincoln's

[@dawsond7359]

Good eye

[@aaronrider4051]

Halleck was blackmailed by Porter into both firing McClellan and court-martialing Porter. Read Heysinger's 1912 classic on the Maryland Campaign. He explains it. The Lincoln administration was full of master political operators. They, in my opinion, needlessly extended the war through their love of political intrigue. But, by God, they were good at intrigue.

[@truettjohnson7230]

As a man talking about the war of Northern Aggression,and he did tell the Truth,Just so yall no,I'm from the county that the man that stabbed Seward was no count and to bad it didn't take him out because of bandages because he was to stupid to ride a carrage

[@Farlomous]

hmmm.....perhaps he shouldn't have been convicted of the charges he was convicted of. but I would argue, his letters and his demeanor throughout his tenure could lead to multiple conduct unbecoming charges and I sure he probably did disobey some direct orders. I would have loved to have seen a command where Porter and Hooker are both Corps Commanders and they have to cooperate with each other perhaps with Howard as the overall commander ROFL

[@truettjohnson7230]

It's time to suceed again,her in Florida,we didn't lose a battle in our state

[@robertgiles9124]

Best to learn to spell the word before you preceed. Maybe you will be under water before that happens though. smh

[@jamesporter1123]

John Porter who was a soldier and was a scapegoat for President Lincoln's ambitions...Colonel Oliver North anyone?

[@stevenzimbler1406]

Ppl llooo9o9ooloooooooool

[@stevenzimbler1406]

Oll

[@stevenzimbler1406]

9ll

[@annastevens7123]

John Porter is my family member...

[@indy_go_blue6048]

Ollie directly violated a stricture passed by the US Congress (like them or not) not to provide aid to the "freedom fighters." IMO he and his ilk committed treason by selling weapons to Iran, considered a belligerent in the 1980s, to get money to give to the anti-Ortega forces in Nicaragua. I don't think it's fair to compare Porter with North.

[@ricardodesotorodriguez3503]

What's with the cameraman's inability to zoom in and out porperly as when need be?

[@jgvtc559]

😂 he too was court martialed

[@beybslifeintheus494]

HI MY FRIEND

[@indy_go_blue6048]

Actually I think about 90% of the Joint Commission, along with Reichsminister Stanton, needed to be prosecuted for their actions during the war. Talk about a star court.

[@gkelly941]

At Second Manassas, Pope obviouly lacked tactical awareness of his situation and the situation and location of his own opposing forces. Porter evidently contributed to this by failing to communicate what he knew, and faling to respond to orders without communicating the reasons for doing so. Was the punishment justified? Probably not. Should he have been removed from command? Probably yes.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

@@gkelly941 I don't disagree with you, in a later post I said the same thing. But Porter was only one action of the Committee that smelled really bad. Stone was another example of a general who suffered unjustly... and, well frankly I have a real hate for Stanton, lol.

[@neilmoulden5323]

It just proves what a "Politician" Lincoln was. Just as bad as all the rest, and just as deceitful.

[@TheRobdarling]

Neil Moulden you lack a full perspective. Keep reading.

[@wolfgangjr1969]

@@g.m.i.9771 Just remember, lincoln replaced his commanding generals if he found them lenient on the southern armies. He wanted generals who would beat the south to a poulp. He got pissed off at Grant for being too lenient with Lee.

[@marrenrue7731]

@@g.m.i.9771 There's Washington and Lincoln and everyone else

[@marrenrue7731]

@@wolfgangjr1969 he did not get upset at Grant

[@daveadriance2400]

The Battle of monocacy

[@benlaney3083]

Matt, your framing is always so distorted and tinted with lost cause sentiments. For those who don’t know their history, I fear it to be deeply misleading. I know you know better, but many don’t and as the more informed party, the responsibility for misunderstanding rests on your shoulder.

[@FASAfan]

I’ve given many presentations, and one thing the presenter must watch out for is commentary, asides, jokes and other distractions. This lecture would probably be good, but I can’t get through it because of these. Cringe.

[@pauldefrances6408]

LOL after watching two of your lectures seems you have a great love of the Northern Democrats. Maybe you are not as impartial as you ought to be.

[@chasetower6773]

45:02 Yep, 🐢👨🏻‍🦳

[@solowbass]

Very informative and well done. I learned a great deal. I might suggest that you and your colleagues refrain from "breaking character" with jokes, gestures, talking to audiences... on these very deadly and serious topics. It ruins the whole flow and frankly there is no room for an attempt at comedy with the subject.

[@suzannetaylor366]

Terrible maps

[@ИринаКим-ъ5ч]

Jones Joseph Lopez Amy Wilson William

[@patscally5390]

Swell...he's reading to the crowd. Very poor presentation skills.

[@richardzellers]

Public speaking grade.....D minus

[@indy_go_blue6048]

Charisma A+++ He does much better with his battle walks.

[@marymoriarity2555]

He does s fine job as a public speaker. I see no reason to criticize ranger Atkinson. He deals with the information

[@marymoriarity2555]

Richard Zellers I dint see any of your credentials ousted.

[@USGrant-rr2by]

Just to be clear, I do hold degrees in history and public relations from The Ohio State Unv. And I can certainly say from listening to several presentations from Ranger Rick, he is one of the worst public speakers I have ever seen. His presentations are so disjointed that it makes it difficult to follow his train of thought. The most annoying is his dumb ass side bar comments that have no actual bearing on the topic. If it annoys you to be texted during your presentation then turn the F'n phone off or take it out of your GD pocket you moron!

[@USGrant-rr2by]

@@marymoriarity2555 You're an idiot!

[@thomasjamison2050]

An appallingly narrow minded and racist viewpoint.

[@spartanumismatics8165]

How?

[@acdragonrider]

All you modern a holes only care if someone is racist or not. You are the narrow minded shit heads.

[@sartainja]

You think that just because he has a southern accent.