Today in History:

991 Series I Volume XII-II (Supp.) Serial 17 - Second Manassas Part II (Supplemental)

Page 991 Chapter XXIV. CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

Question. To whose corps in the Army of Virginia were you attached?

Answer. After leaving Rappahannock Station, at which point my division joined the Army of Virginia, I was temporarily attached to General McDowell's corps, the remainder of General Porter's corps not having yet come up. We separated there, as it were, from the forces coming up from Fredericksburg.

Question. Where were you with your command on the night between the 27th and 28th of August last?

Answer. At Buckland Mills, between Warrenton and Gainesville.

Question. Were you proceeding from Warrenton to Gainesville on your way there?

Answer. We were on the march until after dark.

Question. Did you march during the night?

Answer. No, sir; we bivouacked at Buckland Mills, going into camp just abut dark.

Question. What was the character of the night?

Answer. It was a very dark night, as was the succeeding night. I recollect both of them distinctly, from having been about a good deal until after 12 o'clock on each night.

Question. Did you consider it too dark a night in which to march troops in messes over an unfamiliar country?

Answer. I should think so, certainly, without a guide or marching on roads. I do not think it possible to have marched troops on such a night without having a good guide or marching on a road.

Question. If the road over which you were to pass were, to come considerable extent, obstructed in several places, would you have regarded the marching of large masses of troops on that night as practicable?

Answer. I should not. I should have considered it as a very precarious undertaking.

Question. When marching from Gainesville toward Manassas, on the 28th of August, in what order did you march, and by what route?

Answer. On the morning of the 28th, after passing Gainesville for a short distance--less than a mile-my column was directed tot he right, to march on Manassas. I intended to march in as open order as possible, but found the country such that I put my command in three columns, one brigade in each column, with the artillery in the interval, and marched in that formation for probably a mile, or a mile and a quarter, in the direction of Manassas. The country then became so broken, wooded, and obstructed, that I had to turn into a road leading along the railroad from Gainesville to Manassas Junction, and finally marched on that road, in one column, around to Bethlehem church, toward the old battle-field of Bull Run, late in the evening.

Question. Between New Market and Groveton, what was the character of the country?

Answer. Very broken by ravines, and wooded. I will state that I know that from having passed over it on horseback that night, from somewhere in the neighborhood of New Market over to the Warrenton pike, near Groveton.

Question. In your judgment, could a command have passed over that country in force, with artillery, in proper order to face an enemy?

Answer. I should think not, in the immediate presence of an enemy.

Question. Please to state the position of your command on the 29th, in the afternoon, and the distance between your left and General Porter's command.

Answer. On the 29th I was on the left of General Sigel's command, engaged with the enemy, who was then wholly on the right of the Warrenton pike, as we faced it; General Sigel moving up obliquely across the pike; I was on his extreme left. I had


Page 991 Chapter XXIV. CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA.