say, half a day's march, it would be almost impossible in hod, dry weather to bring the troops in position in front of the enemy in a condition to fight a battle successfully. The absence of water might derange and perhaps destroy the best matured plan for battle, and at the same time afford corresponding advantages to the enemy. The advantages spoken of are that we can either given or refuse battle to the enemy.

Question. Suppose the army which we have taken as an example move toward an enemy whose position is not certainly known, who may be within 15 or 30 or 40 miles, and who is supposed to be at all times ready for battle, would it or would it not ordinarily be proper or necessary to move the army by short marches and in the compact manner you have supposed in answering the previous question?

It would be necessary to keep the troops well massed an in hand, in order to be ready at any hour for any emergency. It would also be necessary to see that they were not exhausted of worn-out by long and fatiguing marches.

Question. Would or would not a march of 12 miles, continued for several days in this manner, be a very serious tax upon the physical endurance of the troops?

Very great indeed. The rear of the column,amounting to nearly

one-half, would find but little time for rest or repose. In a march of this nature, with the number of men supposed, the advance of the column would be in camp several hours before the rear would have moved; this would bring it in late at night or next morning or some time next day, according to the nature of the road and the country. The result would be, for the rear of the column, that night would be turned into day, and in a very few days, with all the changes by the alternating divisions, placing one in front one day and then another and then another, after a march of one week the commander would find it necessary and important of the rest of his troops to lay by from one to three days.

Question. State, if you please, if you have received a military education, and what experience you have had in military service, especially in the movement of large bodies of troops.

I am a graduate of West Point; graduated in 1845, and have been in the Army since that time; have been brigadier-general nearly twelve months and major-general about six months. Served through the campaign of General Scott in Vera Cruz and the termination of the Mexican war; had a command for the last year varying from 5,000 to 25,000; served with a large army at the siege of New Madrid and Island No. 10,with an army, I believe, of some 30,000, as near as I recollect, and commanded a division at that place. Was also at the siege of Corinth, under Major-General Halleck, with an army of about 120,000; subsequently commanded two divisions until I came to the Department of the Ohio; most of that time have commanded the forces in Kentucky of 18,000 to 26,000. During this service enumerated, with the exception of a few months in Kentucky, have been on active duty in presence of or near the enemy.

Cross-examination by the JUDGE-ADVOCATE:

Question. Would not the officers connected with the Army of the Ohio who accompanied that army upon Chattanooga to Louisville have better opportunities for estimating the strength of Bragg's forces than the officers in Louisville?

Yes, sir; up a certain time they would.

Question. If a majority of those officers having a better opportunity of making an estimate, some of them actually within the enemy's lines, fix that force at from 35,000 to 40,000, are your sources of information of such a character that you could venture to contradict them?

General BUELL. I object to the question, sir, for the reasons which I gave when a similar question was put to Brigadier-General Smith.

(The court was cleared; after discussion it was decided that the question be put.)

The WITNESS. I do not regard my estimate as to the strength of General Bragg's army as any contradiction whatever. Their opinions were based upon the best sources of information to be obtained; so are mine also. Instead of a contradiction it is but an honest different of opinion.