[CHAP. XXVIII.

Question. How far on each side of your line of march from Huntsville to Battle Creek did you draw supplies of forage and provisions from?

We got no supplies on the road from Huntsville to Battle Creek except those that were sent to us by railroad. We were short of supplies when we started, and obtained them on the road at the point to which they had been sent from Huntsville. The supplies which we got on the march from Huntsville to Battle Creek we gathered in the immediate vicinity. We did not delay at all. We had no time to send any distance; we gathered what we could.

Question. What was the amount of your train on the march from Baldwyn to Huntsville?

I cannot say.

Question. General, what force had the enemy opposite you at Battle Creek and at Stevenson, as you estimate it?

We were never able to ascertain in any reliable way what force they had there. We could infer only from the names of officers who sent notes and dispatches that were sometimes brought into our camp across the river that there was some considerable force there, a brigade we supposed, as General Heth was there at one time; he signed himself as in command. I never saw 200 men there. Some distance back from the river they were encamped and entirely covered by woods. Their pickets were in view every day, and sometimes held conversations across the river when there was no one there to stop it.

Question. What force was there at Chattanooga at the time you arrived at Battle Creek?

My instructions were, and I considered it an important part of my business, to try to ascertain what force was really at Chattanooga. It was a considerable time before we got any sort of information that we deemed reliable. The men that I used as spies were not capable, at least many of them, of estimating a large force. My own idea as to the only way of ascertaining the number of men was to ascertain what officers were there. Upon my arrival at that place I really did not know anything at all about the force at Chattanooga, except the common rumor that there was a "considerable force" there.

Question. From your knowledge of the officers there and from reports of your scouts what did you make the number to have been?

I can only state now what my impression is. I cannot fix the date at which I received the information, but I suppose when I reached Battle Creek there were about 8,000 to 10,000 troops at Chattanooga.

Question. You state that General McCook's, General Nelson's, General Wood's, and your own division made the first movement toward North Alabama, and that General Thomas afterward came up. What do you estimate the strength of these divisions at?

My estimate of our force at that time was about 30,000 men.

Question. Was General Mitchell's division also in North Alabama and what was its strength an did this form a part of the Army of the Ohio?

General Mitchel's division was at Huntsville when I passed through, so I understood. I also understood that it did form part of the Army of the Ohio. I never was with General Mitchel's division, and had no opportunity of knowing anything personally as to its strength. I supposed it was about equal to the other divisions.

Question. You said the distance from Stevenson to Chattanooga was 40 miles. How many days' provisions would have been necessary to have made a dash at Chattanooga?

That would depend upon so many contingencies that I scarcely know how to answer. To have marched to Chattanooga with no opposition and with forced marches it might have been done in two days, but to have marched there and encountered such obstacles as an enemy could have interposed in that country I think it would