Q. And that you felt to be your justification in taking the course you did?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. I have been told, general, that you have remarked to some of your friends, in conversation, that you were rather wheedled or cheated into that course by politicians?
A. I do not recollect ever making any such remark; I do not think I ever made it.
Q. If there be any other matter about which you wish to speak on this occasion, do so, freely.
A. Only in reference to that last question you put to me. I may have said and may have believed that the positions of the two sections which they held to each other was brought about by the politicians of the country; that the great masses of the people, if they understood the real question, would have avoided it; but not that I had been individually wheedled by the politicians.
Q. That is probably the origin of the whole thing.
A. I may have said that, but I do not even recollect that; but I did believe at the time that it was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forbearance and wisdom had been practised on both sides.
Q. You say that you do not recollect having sworn allegiance and fidelity to the Confederate Government?
A. I do not recollect it, nor do I know it was ever required. I was regularly commissioned in the army of the Confederate States, but I do not really recollect that that oath was required. If it was required, I have no doubt I took it; or, if it had been required, I would have taken it.