the two. There were General Heth and General Reynolds commanding a division also with Kirby Smith.

The Commission adjourned to meet March 2, 1863, at 10 o'clock a.m.

CINCINNATI, March 2, 1863.

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

Major-General CRITTENDEN'S examination continued.

By General BUELL:

Question. Were you on duty in the lines in front of Corinth until the evacuation of that place by the rebel army in May last?

I was.

Question. Were there any general or partial engagements between the rebel army and the forces under the command of Major-General Halleck prior to that engagement?

I remember one very considerable engagement and I heard the firing from numerous small engagements or skirmishes. I had some skirmishing there myself. It would perhaps be proper to add that I was not in line in front of Corinth when the considerable engagement to which I refer took place; I was some distance back. I refer the fight at Farmington when I speak of the considerable engagement.

Question. What was the impression made upon your mind by any engagement in front of Corinth compared with that made upon you by the firing in front of Perryville on the 8th of October as to the severity of the action?

That question reminds me of a slight mistake which I made in the answer to the previous question. In answering it I wish to make a correction, which is that I now remember another very considerable engagement where I was in line and subsequent to the fight at Farmington, in which in addition to the cannonading there was considerable musketry firing. I heard no musketry at Perryville. I heard cannonading at Corinth several times as rapid, I should think, as any I heard at Perryville. At Murfreesborough I heard more rapid firing in skirmishing going on than I heard at either place on one day. My impression was, of course, when I heard nothing but artillery firing at Perryville, that there was no engagement of any considerable force. I had heard at Corinth on the extreme right of our line what it seems to me now was equal to any I heard at Perryville, but I never heard any explanation of it to this day and I do not know what they were firing about; I think it was skirmishing or an artillery duel. I supposed at Perryville, as I believe I have already stated, that the cannonading which I heard was principally from the enemy upon our cavalry, which I supposed was pressing them, and perhaps by the return firing of our cavalry also. Hearing no musketry, my impression was that there could not be any battle going on; merely an artillery duel. When General Pope's forces became engaged at Corinth and when the musketry firing began I supposed it might have been a battle, and that perhaps it was the beginning of a very serious battle.

Question. Do you think it very remarkable that, with an army occupying a front of 5 or 6 miles and in front of an enemy, such partial engagements should sometimes take place at various points without attracting unusual attention or giving cause for apprehension of a dangerous engagement, unless other circumstances indicated that such engagement was imminent?

I thought it remarkable that I could hear no musketry from such an engagement as did actually take place there when I was within 6 miles, and I thought I could hardly have credited the fact if I had not witnessed it myself. I do not think it remarkable that such artillery firing as I heard there should take place in a line of battle 6 miles long without exciting any extraordinary interest or anxiety, because I have known such things to happen, within my own short experience as a soldier, several times, and nothing serious to result from it.

Question. After hearing of the engagement that took place on the