in a speech indicative of radical sentiments that committee member george julian delivered to the house in 1863, he declared frat flatly that the democrats stood for slavery. i'm going to quote. not only is it that rebels are democrats, but so are rebel sympathizer, whether in the nornl or south. loyalty and republicanism go hand in hand throughout the union as perfectly as the reason and slavery. strong words pretty much reflect the feelings of radical members of the committee. the committee issued its first report in april of 1863, a few weeks before the battle of chancellorsville. the investigation of the bull's bluff debacle, in particular the targeting of general charles stone, gave rise to persistent accusations of witch hunting fanaticism that dogged the work ever after and largely unjustified. not entirely unjustified but largely unjustified. stone was a career army officer and democrat in the first weeks of the war he was lionized for as a division commander he ordered the crossing of the potomac at bull's bluff. the investigation revealed really shocking ineptitude and miscomm