Question. Had you any reason to believe at daylight next morning that the enemy was not in force in the immediate vicinity of Perryville and just beyond your view?

None in the world. I did not know anything about it, but I supposed, as the balance of the army did, that Bragg had a large army there, and that we would have a fight. That, I believe, was the universal impression.

Question. What was your impression as to the strength of Bragg's army at that time?

I always thought Bragg's army was overrated, though the information was that Bragg and Kirby Smith and Stevenson would make about 68,000 or 69,000 men. I put Bragg's force down in my own estimation, correct or incorrect, I cannot tell, at 35,000 to 40,000 when they were at Munfordville. I never rated it higher than 40,000. Kirby Smith had about 15,000 troops he brought into the State, so I was informed, and had got about 4,000 to 5,000 since of raw troops. Stevenson, they said, had about 15,000-7,500 I supposed.

I had the impression, as they themselves stated and as Bragg and the provisional governor had assured the people, that they would remain in the State and fight it out. I therefore thought they would concentrate their forces and give us battle up in that vicinity, and I was more impressed with this view from the fact that Kirby Smith had joined Bragg, as I understood, on the night of the battle. General Buell's information was, as I had from a very intelligent spy, that Bragg's army probably was over 60,000 men. In fact he said they had sixty regiments, many of them composed of 1,200 to a regiment. That was General Buell's information while he was considering whether Bragg's troops were going to Kentucky or were still in Tennessee. They certainly formed a line of battle between us and Harrodsburg, for I saw two very extended lines, each 2 miles long, one in the rear of the other, with their flanks well protected, showing that they had a very considerable force.

By the PRESIDENT:

Question. Is it your opinion, general, that the whole of Bragg's army or only a part of it was engaged in the action which you have described as taking place against McCook's corps?

Certainly; only a part of it, and as Bragg himself said in his report it was the divisions of Cheatham, Anderson, and Buckner.

Question. Is it not possible that the main body of Bragg's army at the time of that action was in retreat upon Harrodsburg while this portion that was engaged in the attack was only a corps, left behind to stop pursuit?

I have no idea, sir, that there was any retreat going on them. My information since from general report is that they were not retreating. Brag himself said in his report that the two armies stood face to face in line of battle. The people told me at Harrodsburg that many of the troops that attacked us had gone up and through Harrodsburg and come down the other road to conceal their movements from us, and I have not doubt it was so.

By General DANA:

Question. In stating that on the morning of the 9th of October you had formed a definite opinion that the enemy had retreated, do you wish it to be understood that your opinion was that he had taken up a line of retreat for some distant point or did you wish it understood that he had fallen back to take up a new position for battle?

I have no "opinion" about their having retreated. It was a fact before my eyes that they were gone, and that was all I knew about it. I had an impression from the repeated assurances of Bragg and the boats of the secessions of the State, as well as from the numbers that were joining him, that he did not intend to leave the State without a general battle. I felt that we might come upon General Bragg any day between Bardstown and the mountains just where he might choose to select his line of battle; and I felt thing, too, that approaching Bragg was like hunting a "lion in a jungle." He had the best army for its numbers that I ever saw.

Commission adjourned to meet Wednesday, January 21, 1863.