By General BUELL:

Question. What force would you have required to meet the enemy at Sparta as you proposed?

I believe that four divisions would have been sufficient.

Question. What number of men?

Four divisions of 6,000 men; 24,000.

Question. And by that estimate what force do you suppose the enemy to have?

I supposed, from all I knew, that the enemy had marched into Tennessee with 45,000 men, but I do not believe he could have brought that many men into an engagement at Sparta.

Question. About how many?

I do not suppose that he could have brought into an engagement more than 30,000 men.

Question. You think, then, that with 24,000 men you could have kept Bragg out of Tennessee?

If I could have brought him to a battle at Sparta.

Question. Do you not regard that as a matter of certainty?

I believe he could have been brought to battle at Sparta.

Question. How many day's rations would you require to make that result certain?

Twenty days' would have been sufficient.

Question. Suppose that at the end of twenty days the enemy failed to give you battle at Sparta.

Then I should have been compelled to subsist upon the country.

Question. Could you have done that and maintain your position at Sparta? If so, explain how.

I think we could have maintained our position at Sparta ten days longer by subsisting on the country; that is, thirty days.

Question. Do you give that opinion from your knowledge of the supplies the country affords?

Not from positive knowledge, but from reliable information.

Question. Do I understand you that you made a deliberate proposition to concentrate the army at Sparta and meet the enemy there?

I did.

Question. And you have a copy of that communication?

Yes, sir.

Question. Did you specify the force you thought necessary?

I think that I proposed arranging the whole army so that it could be concentrated at Sparta.

Question. Did you give the details of your plan?

Nothing further than the proposition to hold McMinnville, so as to compel the enemy to march by Sparta, and then concentrate the army at Sparta to meet him when he was compelled to march by Sparta on his way to Kentucky.

Question. Do you know what trains or supplies Bragg carried with him from Chattanooga?

I do not know.