Question. Do you know, general, the number of the army that marched out of Louisville under command of General Buell to attack Bragg at Bardstown?

No, sir; I do not know accurately the strength of that army. I made some estimate in regard to the strength of that army. I made some estimate in regard to the strength of it myself, based upon information that I did possess.

Question. State what that estimate was.

I usually considered it, in round numbers, to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 80,000 men, artillery, cavalry, and infantry, all combined. My estimate was made by taking the strength of my own and other divisions I had some knowledge of and by averaging the whole number of divisions as nearly as I could consider their number. It might have fallen a little below or a little above. The approximation could not necessarily have been a very accurate one.

NASHVILLE, Wednesday Afternoon, December 17, 1862.

General T. J. WOOD'S examination continued.

By General DANA:

Question. Had General Buell taken a defensive position in the mountains beyond Altamont, with the purpose of resisting Bragg's advance into the plains of Tennessee, was it or was it not possible for him then and there to have subsisted his army; and, if so, for how long a time?

I think this would have been a possible operation, upon the hypothesis, of course, that the troops in the rear charged with guarding the railway and line of communication had done their duty properly, and kept open our communication with the source of supply; but I do not think it would have been possible for a greater period than a few days, for the reason that the mountainous country itself affords very little that is useful in supplying an army and all the supplies for men and animals would have to be drawn entirely from our rear. Of course the transportation of forage for a considerable distance, which would have been a necessary result of this arrangement of troops, would in a short time have become a work of great magnitude and extent, and to this would have to be added the transportation of supplies from the line of railroad into the mountains.

Question. Was or was not the disposable force at General Buell's command at that time sufficient to enable him to place a sufficient force to defend his position in the mountains and at the same time place a sufficient force on his line of communication to guard them against any probable contingency?

The answer must be somewhat a matter of opinion, as I do not know the actual numerical strength of the force at General Buell's command at that time, but my opinion is that he had a sufficient force at his command to meet the case put in the question.

Question. At the time you subsisted your troops in Lower Tennessee on half rations what proportion of the other half rations was procured by them in the country to help out the short supply?

I can answer generally a very considerable portion; and without going into an estimate of the quantity, which would perhaps be very inaccurate, I san say generally that the troops of my command lived very well when they were on half rations. Certainly there was no suffering.

Question. What kind of supplies were gathered by the troops at these times to help out their short rations?

By my own particular command, which I can take as a test of others, some flour was found in the country. I caused corn to be ground into meal to be issued to the troops, collected beef cattle from the country, and at that period we were generally able to get a pretty good supply of fresh vegetables.

Question. Supposing none of these supplies could have been obtained, how long could the army have subsisted on half rations brought from the rear and have continued effective?