Q. Give us the nature of the second communication?
A. I cannot remember the exact phraseology of it.
Q. Give it in substance, as near as you can?
A. It was a mere reiteration, asking for ammunition, and asking for rations—saying that we must be provisioned—that the troops were in a terrible state, nearly starved, and suggesting in one of the dispatches, how they could get in there with their engines, that they might run down and we would try to have the gates ready for them to come in, and the engine, I believe, was subsequently loaded, and the engineer refused to take it.
Q. Did you try to convey the idea to General Latta, that your troops were unfit for duty?
A. No; I conveyed the idea, or attempted to, that they were worn out, not being properly cared for or rationed, and that I had no sufficient amount of ammunition. I tried to convey that idea.
Q. That they were demoralized?
A. No—I did not.
Q. Could there have been such a construction placed on your message?
A. No; I don't think so. A few of my men were not in the best condition, morally, but very few. I only placed them in another part of the building. I designated those.