“This is all I have yet done”: i. e., “in my official reports of the operations of the army, to set forth all the facts as they transpired on the field. I have not preferred charges against him. I have merely set forth facts in my official reports,” etc.
The “Official Records” referred to show that he “set forth” certain facts [or fancies] in his private letters to Halleck, which, by some mysterious influence have found their way into print, and suggest that an explanation is in order to reconcile his sworn testimony with the fact that he was urging General Halleck to action, by military court, and even threatening him in case he should neglect such action.
He says: “No man knows better than yourself the constancy, the energy, and the zeal with which I endeavored to carry out your programme in Virginia. Your own letters and dispatches, from beginning to end, are sufficient evidence of this fact, and also of the fact that I not only committed no mistake, but that every act and movement met with your heartiest concurrence.”
[Note.—This statement is fully corroborated by the “Official Records.” It is as certain as anything can be that Halleck formulated the plan and that Pope executed it. If he appeared to be making mistakes, he was obeying orders, and Halleck should be chargeable.]
Pope continues: “Your own declarations to me up to the last hour I remained in Washington bore testimony that I had shown every quality to command success.”...
“Having, at your own urgent request [Mark that well! and what follows also. This paragraph shows that Halleck himself was the instigator of the charges against Porter], and from a sense of duty [!] laid before the Government, the conduct of McClellan, Porter and Griffin, and substantiated the facts stated by their own written documents, I am not disposed to push the matter further, unless the silence of the Government [this means Halleck, as has been shown Halleck was the only objector to the gratification of Pope’s wishes], in the midst of the unscrupulous slander and misrepresentation purposely put in circulation against me and the restoration of these officers, without trial, to their commands, coupled with my banishment to a distant and unimportant department, render it necessary as an act of justice to myself.”
How keenly Pope feels his disgrace, having been used as a tool and then flung aside, is shown clearly. He continues:
“As I have already said, I challenge and seek examination of my campaign in Virginia in all its details, and unless the Government by some high mark of public confidence, such as they have given to me in private, relieves me from the atrocious injury done to my character as a soldier ... justice to myself and to all connected with me demands that I should urge the court of inquiry.... This investigation, under the circumstances above stated, I shall assuredly urge in every way. If it cannot be accomplished by military courts, it will undoubtedly be the subject of the inquiry in Congress.”
Then follows a darkly ominous hint: “It is especially hard, in view of my relations with you [Note that!] that I should be compelled even to ask at your hands the justice which it is your duty to assure to every officer of the army.... I tell you frankly that by the time Congress meets such influences as can not be resisted will be brought to bear on this subject.... I prefer greatly that you should do me this justice of your own accord.”[14]
Altogether this letter is a rare specimen of the chiaroscuro in the art epistolary; it tells of Halleck’s acts of injustice which Pope will right by every means in his power. At times it breathes hatred and vengeance, and closes with such a loving assurance as this: