or bad in their effects. It might, I think, very properly be asked why the Commission introduced the subject at all.

I will not use this occasion, though I cannot think that it would be inappropriate, to comment on the irregularities which marked the proceedings of the Commission and the spirit manifested by a portion of its members. Just and thinking men will hesitate to declare in a judicial verdict, with reference to the conduct of operations of such magnitude, more particularly when an important result has been obtained, that the commander ought to have acted differently: First, because, under circumstances which make it frequently impossible to know exactly the true state of affairs, he must act on appearances and probabilities more than on positive knowledge; and, second, because it is seldom possible to say what would have been the consequences of a different action. In this case no such hesitation is apparent.

For want of time I was not able to present my review of the evidence until the Commission had prepared their report and adjourned. How far that review might have modified the report if it had been before them it is impossible for me to say.

I submit these remarks with the confident belief that the justice of the Secretary will see ample ground for them.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

D. C. BUELL,

Major-General.

[Inclosure No. 6.]

GENERAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE OHIO,

No. 29a. In Camp, Huntsville, Ala., July 11, 1862.

The general commanding the Army of the Ohio takes pleasures in announcing the success of an arduous and hazardous campaign by the Seventh Division, Brigadier General G. W. Morgan commanding, by which the enemy's fortified position at Cumberland Gap was turned and his force compelled to retreat as our troops advanced to attack.

The general thanks Brigadier-General Morgan and the troops of the Seventh Division for the ability displayed in the operations against this important stronghold, and for the energy, fortitude, and cheerfulness which they exhibited in their struggle with difficulties of the most formidable magnitude for an army.

By command of Major-General Buell:

JAMES B. FRY,

Colonel and Chief of Staff.

GENERAL ORDERS,
WAR DEPT., ADJT. GEN'S. OFFICE,

No. 45. Washington, June 14, 1872.

The following act of Congress is published for the information and government of all concerned:

AN ACT to provide for the restoration of the records of the proceedings of the court of inquiry concerning the operations of the army under the command of General Don Carlos Buell, in Kentucky and Tennessee, that the records of the proceedings of said court are not to be found on the proper files in the War Department; and whereas it further appears that

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