ant-Colonel Meysenburg testifies further that Colonel Krzyzanowski was ordered at 7 o'clock to join Geary with the rest of his command. Thus I acted under orders. This accounts sufficiently for the time of Colonel Krzyzanowski's arrival at Wauhatchie. With the manner in which these movements were executed, nobody that I know found fault, and I would not have dwelled upon these matters at such length had not the prosecution shown some disposition to shift from the censure contained in General Hooker's report upon a new ground, in order to detect by minute microscopic research perhaps a little flaw in those of my proceedings which had not yet been blamed.

In General Hooker's report the brigade dispatched to the relief of Geary is blamed for not having arrived there until long after the fight had ended. This cannot apply to the movements just described, for it is proved that when Hecker was ordered forward from the cross-roads, the fight at Wauhatchie had long been over. To blame him for not arriving there before the fight was over, when it was already over before he started, would have been an absurdity. The occurrence which called forth the censure, must have happened previous to the last movements. The report itself, together with General Hooker's letter and testimony, established the point beyond controversy. The report says:

Directions were immediately given for one of the brigades en route to Geary (Tyndale's) to be detached and assault the enemy in the hills on the left, and the other brigade to push on as ordered.

A brigade was to push on to Geary, while Tyndale's brigade took possession of the hills on the left. Why did it not push on? He who is clear of the responsibility for this failure to push on ought to be clear of the censure. This is the point, and the only point to be decided.

I will state the circumstances which occasioned this failure strictly according to the testimony of five witnesses, all agreeing on the main points. Look back to the opening scenes of the action. The orders I had given before leaving our encampment at the head of the First Brigade were correctly carried out. The brigades marched forward on the road to Wauhatchie, the Second following the First, and Colonel Hecker, with the Third, following the Second, but, impatient to get on, pressing alongside where the ground would permit. After marching nearly three-quarters of a mile the Second Brigade suddenly stops. Hecker, still more impatient, sends one of his aides forward to ascertain the cause of the delay. The aide returns with the information that he had seen one of the staff officers of the Second Brigade, who had told him that the Second Brigade had just received orders to halt. Colonel Hecker replies, "I have received no orders to halt, and I shall march on." So he marches his column by the Second Brigade and continues on the road to Wauhatchie. He has hardly advanced beyond the Second Brigade when he meets Major Howard of the Eleventh Corps staff, on the road. Major Howard tells him to halt his troops at the cross-road, one branch of which leads up to the hill on the left, now known as Smith's Hill. This is done. Major Howard perceives General Hooker near the spot, and referring the colonel to the general, says, "Here is General Hooker himself." General Hooker recognizes the colonel, with whom he is evidently acquainted. In reply to General Hooker's question the colonel informs him that the troops halting there are the Third Brigade, Third