thdrawing itself from the Government of the United States as
carrying the individuals of the State along with it; that the State
was responsible for the act, not the individuals, and that the
ordinance of secession, so called, or those acts of the State which
recognized a condition of war between the State and the General
Government stood as their justification for their bearing arms against
the Government of the United States; yes, sir, I think they would
consider the act of the State as legitimate; that they were merely
using the reserved rights, which they had a right to do.

Q. State, if you please--and if you are disinclined to answer the
question you need not do so--what your own personal views on that
question are?

A. That was my view; that the act of Virginia in withdrawing herself
from the United States carried me along as a citizen of Virginia, and
that her laws and her acts were binding on me.

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.

Q. Is there any other matte