I left him for about fifteen minutes to write a note to Colonel Fry, and had just returned to where General McCook was when Colonel Steedman rode up. As he came up General McCook turned to me and said, "Here come the Pea Ridge men; tell the general I am all right now." As I was about leaving him I asked him if he wanted any more re-enforcements; he first said no, but he might want more, as he did not know what might occur. I told him if he wished for more to send to General Gilbert, who would send him any re-enforcements he might ask for or that he could spare. I went back by the same road that I came by, and found Colonel Walker's brigade, of the First Division, near the end of it. I told him to form across this road, so that any one coming from to re-enforcements. I then rode back to General Gilbert, and told him where I had posted this brigade, and to send forward any re-enforcements he could spare, if General McCook wanted them. I left General McCook at sundown, about half past 5 o'clock (the sun set at 5.32 p.m. that day). I rode back at a gallop to where I had left General Buell, and in not more than ten or fifteen minutes after I arrived Colonel Fry wrote an order and sent it back to General McCook by an orderly I had taken up with me in the afternoon. I told the orderly to go by the exact road I had taken, and I found afterward that he had gone by that road to the exact place where I had left McCook's force probably not half an hour before. The orderly rode right into the midst of a rebel regiment and was captured. Colonel Walker's brigade was not called upon to go over to General McCook's assistance, so I presume he did not send for re-enforcements.

Question. Do you know what order that orderly took to General McCook?

No, sir; I did not see it. I thought it was to hold his ground that night and be ready to renew the fight in the morning.

Question. Do you know what time information was received at headquarters that a battle was in progress on the left and that General McCook required re-enforcements, and howling was it before you started with the order for the re-enforcements?

I did not see the officer who came over to ask for re-enforcements, but Colonel Fry told me as he sent me off that an officer had just left them.

Question. What were the indications at headquarters that a battle was raging at that time?

No musketry firing could be heard, but toward noon and during the afternoon we heard artillery, but supposed it was in front; and I remember asking Colonel Fry if we were not going forward, and he replied that it was merely some artillery firing in front to hold the water that we had secured the previous night by sending forward a brigade. When I left General Buell to carry the order for re-enforcements to General Gilbert I had no idea that a battle was being fought, and did not know till I reached General McCook that one was in progress. During the time I was with General McCook his troops were advancing. I remember this distinctly, because as I was sitting on a log writing a note to Colonel Fry a battery came up and got into position immediately in front of us. They advanced their guns several paces by hand on the ridge from which they were firing and the troops on either side of the battery moved forward at the same time. General McCook afterward told me that this was the hottest part of the fight, and my impression was, as I told General Buell when I got back, that we were whipping the enemy.

Question. Do I understand you that subsequent to this the enemy actually occupied the ground you were on when you were with General McCook?

No, sir; I do not suppose that they did occupy that ground, as the point to which they had been driven back was fully 300 yards in rear of the line that our troops then occupied.

Question. Did you not state in your answer to a previous question that an orderly from headquarters was captured on this ground where you saw General McCook and where the advance was resumed?