FORT JACKSON,

December 13, 1863-2 p.m.

The court met pursuant to adjournment.

Present, all the members and the judge-advocate.

Colonel C. A. HARTWELL, Fifth Regiment Infantry, Corps d'Afrique, was then duly sworn by the judge-advocate.

Question. Please state your name, rank, and command.

Answer. Charles A. Hartwell, colonel Fifth Regiment Infantry, Corps d'Afrique. I have been commissioned, though not mustered in as such. I am first lieutenant Eleventh Infantry. I command the garrison at Fort Saint Philip.

Question. When did you assume command of that post?

Answer. On Tuesday, the 8th instant, at 1 p.m.

Question. Whom did you relieve?

Answer. Lieutenant-Colonel Benedict, Fourth Infantry, Corps d'Afrique.

Question. Do you know how long previously Lieutenant-Colonel Benedict had been in command at Fort Saint Philip?

Answer. I saw an order dated in September assigning him to the command of that fort. I think it was September.

Question. When you assumed command of the fort, did you observe andy dissatisfaction among the garrison toward Lieutenant-Colonel Benedict?

Answer. I did not.

Question. When the Fourth Regiment, Corps d'Afrique, was divided, was there any preference shown by the men as to whether they should stay at Fort Saint Philip or go to Fort Jackson?

Answer. I saw only three cases of preference, two for Fort Saint Philip and one for Fort Jackson. Many of them, however, spoke to my officers, asking to be detained on that side.

Question. Do you know what reason they assigned for this request?

Answer. Merely a preference to remain. I heard of no other reason assigned.

Question. Do you know whether Lieutenant-Colonel Benedict's treatment of the men was the cause of their making the request?

Answer. I do not.

Question. Please state what you know of the disturbances, if any, at Fort Jackson on the 9th instant.

Answer. The only thing that I actually observed was the musketry firing. The wind was blowing off shore, and I could hear only a very little of it, but I saw the flashes.

Question. Have the men under your command manifested any discontent since you assumed command of them?

Answer. Not the slightest that I can observe. My officers have told me that their sergeants told them that the men were ready to march to quell the disturbance.

Question. How long did the firing continue?

Answer. From about 6 until 7.30. I had no means of sending over to Fort Jackson or I should have done so.

The examination of Colonel C. A. Hartwell was here closed.