judge-advocate be instructed to produce it in court. I suppose it could be got from Washington.

General BUELL. In order that I may not appear in the light of withholding anything from the Commission I will state here that my impression is that General Halleck's instructions to me in the first place were oral. I remember,however, one dispatch which had reference to the route which he deemed it best that I should pursue. As far as I am concerned I would just as lief present any instructions I have from General Halleck now as at any other time, though I had designed to bring them in with my documentary evidence, and if such instructions are not found upon the books that I have submitted to the Commission I do not believe that they can be found.

The JUDGE-ADVOCATE. Will you let us have all the books you have?

General BUELL. I have given them to you.

The PRESIDENT. No reference has been made, so far as I know, to any letter from General Halleck to General Buell.

General SCHOEPF. Here is a letter (referring to General Buell's letter-book) showing the contrary, and I would like the letter of General Halleck to be produced.

General BUELL. I did not understand that the remarks of General Schoepf were with reference to instructions as to repairing the railroad. I thought they had reference to the instructions on which I moved form Corinth to East Tennessee. The dispatches are recorded in the books that are here under you inspection.

Commission adjourned to meet February 10, 1863.

CINCINNATI, February 10, 1863.

Commission met pursuant to adjournment. All the members present; also the judge-advocate and General Buell.

General W. S. SMITH'S examination continued.

Question. With the amount of rolling stock the rebels are understood to have on all their railroad communications how long ought it to take to transfer 25,000 men from Tupelo to Chattanooga?

I should think it would taken from ten days to two weeks.

Question. Is the possession of East Tennessee and the line of railroad running through from Virginia to Georgia admitted to be of very great importance to the rebel authorities?

I think that it is.

Question. Considering the importance of that possession to them, and the superior facilities they possessed for transferring troops from the vicinity of Corinth to Chattanooga and other points in East Tennessee, what reasonable probability was there of being able to march the United States forces from Corinth to Chattanooga before such a movement would be anticipated and guarded against by all the means they could use for that purpose?

Without a more accurate knowledge than I possess of their facilities for rapid movement of troops, and also the necessities that existed for the presence of their forces at other points, it would be exceedingly difficult for me to say just what such a probability would be. I think, however, the advantages in the race for any point on that line of communication between the rebel forces and the Government forces would have been decidedly in favor of the rebels; and considering the immense importance of that line of communication to them, I think it is but reasonable to suppose that they would have exerted themselves to the utmost to have thrown upon it the forces necessary for its protection.