Question. Did you see General Porter at any time during the 29th or the 30th? And, if you did, state where you saw him.

Answer. I saw General Porter on the morning of the 29th, before we moved from Manassas Junction, or from that neighborhood. I think I saw him again on the morning of the 30th, near the headquarters of General Pope and General McDowell, close to the battle-field. I saw lying down there, and I think I saw General Porter there.

The examination of this witness here closed.

Brigadier General B. S. ROBERTS was then recalled by the Government, and examined as follows:

By the JUDGE-ADVOCATE:

Question. Will you state whether you have any knowledge of the hour at which General Pope and General McDowell met for the first

time on the afternoon of the 29th of August last, and where they met?

The accused objected to that question, unless the purpose of the question was first stated.

The judge-advocate said: The purpose is very obvious. Lieutenant Weld, a witness on the part of the accused, stated in his testimony that he left General Porter at 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 29th of August last, bearing a message; that he communicated that message to General Hatch, who stated that they were driving the enemy, which statement he immediately wrote down and sent back to General Porter. Then he had an interview with General McDowell and General Pope together, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and the message which General Pope sent was, "We are having a hard fight." The purpose of this question is to show that General McDowell and General Pope met for the first time on that afternoon at a much later hour, and therefore, if any such message was sent to General Porter, it must have been sent at a much later hour than that named by the witness for the accused.

The accused further objected to the question being propounded to the witness now upon the stand, upon the ground that General McDowell himself was the person of whom to make the inquiry as to when he first met General Pope on that afternoon. The court was thereupon cleared.

After some time the court was reopened, and the judge-advocate announced the decision of the court to be that the witness answer the question.

The question was again stated as before recorded.

Answer. About 6 o'clock on that afternoon, perhaps a little before, I passed with General Pope to the extreme left of the field, and in returning from there, on reaching a point where the road coming in from the direction of Manassas Junction intersects the road from Gainesville to Centreville, we met General McDowell, and that was the first time that General McDowell had been on the battle-field that day, and the first time that General Pope met him on that day.

Question. At what hour of the day was that?

Answer. We galloped rapidly over the field, and I think it must have been fifteen or twenty minutes, or half-past 6 o'clock in the afternoon.

Question. Were you with them from that time forward until the battle closed?

Answer. No, sir; some orders were given by General Pope when he returned in the direction of this headquarters.

Question. Will you state when General Pope gave directions, if he did give any such, to General McDowell to move his forces upon the right?

Answer. General Pope directed one division of General McDowell's corps to relieve