On the court being opened Colonel Mundy continued:

From Columbia to Athens they took their forage, for which they neither paid them nor gave them vouchers, and took their furniture out of their houses. I reported the matter to General Mitchel at Huntsville, and put the Train-master under arrest, and sent him back to Huntsville to General Mitchel, and reported to him what I had done. That was as the train went down to Huntsville. In a few days afterward I found the same train-master with the train returning, which astonished me. I rearrested him at once upon their complaints of depredations he had committed upon that trip and reported the matter to General Mitchel again. He replied to me by telegraph to attend to my own business. I replied to him that it was my business, and that I intended to hang the man, under authority of the order of General Buell. The order did not give me authority to hang, only to check depredations and plunder. I reconsidered it, however, and sent the man back to Huntsville under arrest. I never knew what because of him afterward; he never came over my road any more. Under the aggravations of these depredations I found that our telegraph line was being cut continually, our railroad was being torn up, and bridges burned.

When I put a stop to the depredations the teamsters as well as the citizens found I was in earnest about it. I found that the citizens were freely disposed to give me notice of those who were interrupting our railroad and telegraphic communication; they freely supplied my hospitals with necessities gratuitously, and behaved generally as a loyal and Christian people. I now remember something more of that man: his name was Proctor; he afterward fell into the hands of General Buell, who ordered his trial by court-martial, but he escaped from the provost guard, and I do not know what became of him since. I might also say I had the sanction of Governor Johnson, with the reasons, and told him what I purposed to do; he approved of it, and directed me to proceed, but subsequently he relented so far as Colonel Jones was concerned, who was a member of the Southern Congress, and ordered me to permit him to remain in Pulaski.

By General BUELL:

Question. Was there any change in the disposition of this Colonel Jones that you speak of?

Well, sir I cannot say as to that. If he talked any after that he did it so quietly that is did not come to my ears.

Question. Are any active demonstrations of loyalty to be expected from the people of the South so long as they have organized armies in their midst which control their actions and to a considerable extent their opinions also?

We cannot expect any demonstrations of loyalty from the people there unless we can assure them of protection against the rebel armies and guerrillas. I found that the great fear in the minds of the people in that portion of Tennessee where I held command. those about Pulaski who were disposed to come out openly for the Union said to me that they feared they would be marked and destroyed by the rebels for it. If they were to incautiously develop the Union sentiment, and they had no protection from our forces and our Government it would be to seal their doom. I know of two cases near Pulaski where citizens who had declared themselves for the Union were hung by the guerrillas and left hanging in the woods. Their wives came to me to Pulaski and reported the facts. I afterward sent an officer with a party of men to have them decently taken care of and to search for the guerrillas till they could find them. I did not find them; if I had I should have retaliated by hanging them.

Question. In either event from which policy do you think the Government would derive most strength, the policy which is embodied in the order I have submitted to you or one which pays no regard to the private rights of the people among whom our armies operated?

In expressing an opinion based upon my experience with them I am satisfied that the policy of General Buell is the true one. I do believe that the whole of Tennessee could be restored to the Union by a strict pursuance of that policy. I might say the same thing for North Alabama. I had a great deal of intercourse with the people of both sections. I believe that the true policy of the Government to bring this war to a successful issue would be to go pursue a course where the rights of the people would be respected and to disenthrall them from their leaders. Prisoners from the Army of Corinth who fell into my hands at Pulaski assured me that thousands of the soldiers