hundred and fifteenth New York, and placed them, himself, in a position to guard McGrath's battery. These companies were not on the top of the hill at any time. Colonel Ford made every effort in his power to obtain re-enforcements and other means of defense; he sent written requests to Colonel Miles for axes, spades, and other intrenching implements, and for artillery; he sent verbal requests for the same by his officers, and went in person to Colonel Miles, and importuned Colonel Miles whenever he met with him, which he often did, for these things, so greatly as to excite expressions from him that implied his displeasure. Still, Colonel Ford persevered in these requests from the time he took the command of these heights down almost to the hour when he gave the order to evacuate them. He got ten axes, two Parrott guns at the battery, and no more intrenching tools or artillery. He received the re-enforcements already mentioned, and no more. Whether Colonel Miles did right or wrong in not complying with these requests, it is no part of our duty here to inquire into. It is enough for us to show that Colonel Ford did all that he could do to obtain such aids, and could not, and did not, obtain them; and to show further that without these means of defense furnished in due time he could not hold his position against the forces of the enemy.

V. As a general statement, the orders he received were to hold Maryland Heights as long as he could do so, and, if he should be overpowered by superior force, to spike the guns and throw them down the hill, so that they could not be used by the enemy against Harper's Ferry, and to retreat in good order. One alleged order is disputed; one witness, Lieutenant Binney, states that an order was sent by Colonel Miles, directed to Colonel Ford, to hold Maryland Heights "till the cows' tails dropped off," and that it was receipted for on the envelope in which it was sent. Colonel Ford denies that he ever received any such order. No person is named by whom that order is alleged to have been sent; no person has testified that he delivered any such order to Colonel Ford. The envelope, on which it is alleged a receipt was written, is not produced or accounted for. But the order-book is in evidence, and there is there that which purports to be a full copy of that order. Now, if it was copied from the original, and it purports to be so as much as all the other orders in the book, then the copy must have been made by some person who had that original order lying before him; and, after that, it must have been sent away, because no one claims to have seen it after it was sent, as is alleged, to Colonel Ford. The order is dated September 13, and the book itself upon its face shows indisputably that that one order of September 13 and three general orders of September 14 (?) were copied before the disputed order was placed in the book. This is a matter that certainly requires explanation, and there is no explanation attempted; no one witness states the name of the person who made this copy, or in whose handwriting it is; it is at the top of the right page of the book, so that the person who did so, if he placed it there before the copies of orders of the 14th were made, could not but have seen that he was leaving a page in blank. It is not like the accidental turning of two leaves. This shows, and in our judgment conclusively, that this paper never came from Colonel Miles, and that no such order was issued by him on the 13th day of September, 1862, because, if it had been issued and copied into the order-book on that day, it would necessarily have preceded the orders that were issued and copied on the 14th day of September. It must have been placed upon the order-book by some person who and access to that book; who had the opportunity to put it there. The handwriting resembles that