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his positive, orders through one of his own staff officers, to occupy the
hill near the railroad gap with one Brigade, and that the only Brigade
with me thus being disposed of, I had no troops to push through
to Geary. He observed, that he himself had given me the order to
push through to Geary two hours ago and ordered me to do so now.
I asked whether I might now have the Brigades which had been kept
back, and upon his reply, that I might take them, I marched off. This is
the substance of the conversation according to the evidence. One of the
witnesses, who reports it, gives it also as his impression, that Gen. Hooker,
from what he said, seemed to disown the order delivered to me by Lieut.
Oliver. Taking this as absolutely correct, we would be forced to one of
two conclusions—either Gen. Hooker had not given the order—but that is
impossible, as he afterwards so repeatedly and emphatically declared that
he did give it—or General Hooker had led me into a snare by first giving
me an order and then disowning it, a supposition as unreasonable as it
would be unworthy. Lieutenant Oliver, who also listened to the
conversation, gives it as his impression, that General Hooker supposed I had
another Brigade with me, aside of Tyndale’s. According to him, therefore
General Hooker must have thought, that in some manner some of my
troops must be possessed of ubiquity. But Lieutenant Oliver well knew
this supposition to be erroneous. According to his own testimony, I had
informed him at the foot of the Tyndale Hill, that my other Brigades were
held back, and that if I occupied the hill with one Brigade, I could not
reinforce Geary, as I had nothing in hand to do it with. But he testifies
also, that when reporting to General Hooker the taking of Tyndale’s Hill,
he said nothing to him of my having only that one Brigade in hand.
I had been careful to give him all the information that was important.
There my duty ended and his commenced. That he did not
communicate the whole of that information to his chief, is a thing which I
have not to answer for; my responsibility does not extend to General
Hooker’s Staff.
But aside of all this, how it was possible for General Hooker to suppose, that I had more than one Brigade with me when taking the Tyndale Hill, you will find difficult to explain, when you hear and consider what meanwhile had happened. Still, as the question, whether I or somebody else bears the responsibility for the staying behind of the balance of my command, seems to be the point upon which this whole matter hinges. I shall return to it in order to discuss it more fully, after having sufficiently elucidated the rest of my movements.
The testimony shows that as soon as I resumed command of my 2d and 3d Brigades, I marched forward. In passing I had the gap between
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