Today in History:

1038 Series I Volume XII-II (Supp.) Serial 17 - Second Manassas Part II (Supplemental)

Page 1038 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., AND MD. Chapter XXIV.

General Reno, who was toward the right, to the right of the center. This was about half-past 6 o'clock that afternoon.

Question. Were you present when that order was given?

Answer. Yes, sir; and General Pope directed the balance of General McDowell's force to move in front of the center, in the direction of the Gainesville road from Centreville.

Question. Will you state what knowledge, if any, you have from your knowledge of the battle-field and the country around it that day, of the forces of the enemy, amounting to from 12,000 to 24,000 men, being in position in the immediate front of General Porter's command, as indicated by the testimony introduced here by the defense?

Answer. I was without any especial command on that day, and was observing the whole battle from an early hour in the morning until its close. General Pope requested me, with a lorgnette that he furnished me, to particularly watch all the motions of General Longstreet's army, which he knew would be coming in from Thoroughfare Gap or Hopewell Gap. And before leaving Centreville I had, for nearly an hour, as I suppose, been noticing all of the movements in that direction, so far as I could judge of them from the dust; and I judged, from the distance that the force that created that dust would be obliged to move to get on the battle-field and form there, that it would be late in the afternoon before they could do so. During that afternoon, on the battle-field, in the expectation that an attack would be made on the enemy's right by General Porter's forces, I was noticing particularly in that direction the movements of the enemy's forces, so far as I could judge of them through a glass by the dust, and I was convinced that the force that came through Gainesville by the Hopewell and Thoroughfare Gaps-as I think they came through both-came directly down the Gainesville road on to the battle-field, and did not go to their right, on the road leading through Manassas Junction to Gainesville; and I have other reasons for believing that those forces did not go in that direction, and that the forces sin front of General Porter were not forces that came on to the field and to his front on that day. Those reasons are these: That two or three times during the day it was reported to General Pope that the enemy was turning his extreme right, ad twice he directed to learn what it was. I sent cavalry there twice, and found that it was only a force of mounted men, with some light artillery, who were watching all of our movements on our right flank, and I inferred that it was a similar force to that which was upon our left, watching our movements there, which were in front of General Porter.

Question. Did your position give you such a view of the field in front of General Porter's command as to enable you to express with confidence an opinion as to any probable force that was in his front?

Answer. I was in a position where I noticed the flashing of guns, which I at that time supposed to be General Porter's guns, and which I now know were his guns and those of the enemy, and to notice the dust, if any, which columns of troops would have raised if they had been marching in that direction. The direction from Gainesville to the battle-field is quite different from Gainesville to the place where this firing occurred, which, I think, was between 12 and 1 o'clock; and I was watching particularly the dust and the movements in that direction during all that afternoon, for I was hourly expecting that General Porter would come in from that direction.

The examination by the judge-advocate here closed.

Examination by the ACCUSED:

Question. What was the extent of the force of the enemy that General Pope fought on the 29th of August-the entire force?

Answer. In have estimated the force of the enemy that he fought until toward the evening, in the main battles during the day, at from 35,000 to 40,000.

Question. Did you understand that Longstreet's corps constituted that part of the enemy's force?

Answer. I think Longstreet's forces engaged General McDowell's forces after sundown on that day.

Question. Not before?

Answer. No, sir.


Page 1038 OPERATIONS IN N. VA., W. VA., AND MD. Chapter XXIV.