nary men who were able-bodied, and at all capable, had been sent to Fort Pickens with Lieutenant Slemmer on the 9th, and had not returned, and they are there now with him. There were some thirty of them, I heard, and they are now with Lieutenant Slemmer, making up his command, with the balance of his men, to about eighty-three men. The gates opening from the yard on the north and west sides are simply wooden gates, that these men with a piece of timber eight inches square and ten feet long could just drive right through.

Question. What was the name of the storekeeper in the yard?
Answer. Gonzales.

Question. Do you know whether he expressed any wish to defend the yard, or did he desire that it should be surrendered ?

Answer. No, sir; I do not think he ever expressed any wish to defend the yard. I think his feelings were that there should be no resistance made, as would have been that of every one. That was mine, for I saw no earthly chance for the defence of the yard beyond, at furthest, a day's parley. We had every reason to believe that there were still additional forces on the way down on the twenty-mile break on the road; which was the fact, for they arrived afterwards. Question. You had a firm belief that it could not be successfully defended?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Still you did not desire the surrender per se?

Answer. No, sir; only to avoid the risk of losing the lives of everybody in and about the yard.

Question. Do you think that all the officers there sympathized with you-that is, do you think they all earnestly desired to have the yard retained, or were some of them secessionists?

Answer. I cannot answer that question. I know from a conversation with Captain Farrand, when the elections in Alabama were being held for the State convention, to which the question of secession was submitted, that his announcement to me was that if Alabama seceded he would go with Alabama.

Question. He would go with Alabama?

Answer. He would resign his commission.

Question. Alabama had seceded prior to this surrender?

Answer. We had heard of the secession of Alabama before the 12th. Question. You had heard of it?

Answer. Yes, sir; we must have heard of it. He announced publicly and openly in his conversation that that would be his course if Alabama seceded.

Question. I would hardly think it proper to draw out of you any remarks as to what other people may have said as to particular officers; but I would like to have you to state anything you heard any officer himself say touching himself?

Answer. That is all I can give you that was as to himself.

Question. Now, in that connexion, I would like to ask you, in regard to Lieutenant Renshaw, the same thing?

Answer. Lieutenant Renshaw was not disposed to resign, and did not until under the influence of his friends, &c., who were there. He did not resign, I think, until the morning of the 15th.

Question. Do you understand that all these resignations were communicated to the department by telegraph ?

Answer. I think they were all communicated by telegraph, unless it was Dr. Spotswood's.

Question. Dr. Spotswood?

Answer. Yes, sir; I think it probable his resignation was by letter, on the day of the capitulation.

Question. He was an old gentleman?

Answer. Yes, sir. I think his resignation was by letter on the day of the capitulation. From that day there was an interruption of communication. But I doubt whether there was any regular postal communication after the 13th or 15th.

Question. Can you state the amount of arms that were surrendered? Answer. Indeed, I cannot. My duties in the yard were not of a kind to make me familiar with anything of that kind.

By Mr. COCHRANE :

Question. You speak of a capitulation; I would like to know what you understand to be the terms of that capitulation?

Answer. I never heard of them; never knew what terms of capitulation were made.

Question. Then all you know about them were the individual terms communicated to you?

Answer. To myself?

Question. On giving your parole of honor not to bear arms against Florida?

Answer. Yes, sir; that I was then at liberty to leave.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Question. You left there on the 16th ?

Answer. On the 16th, in the afternoon.

Question. What had become of all the mechanics and laborers? Answer. They were all there as busy as they could be in preparing the yard for defence. It shows the temper that the commodore was surrounded with.

Question. Were they employed by the Florida authorities?

Answer. Yes, sir; every individual, with the exception of three or four, were earnestly at work in clearing out Barrancas and unspiking the guns, and getting ready to defend the place.

Question. They seemed quite as zealous under the new administration as under the old ?

Answer. More so; and that was one element, I presume, that entered into the commodore's calculations in taking his course.

Question. From what you know of the temper of all the men in and around the yard you would think that this disposition to go over to the other side would be a strong element in justification of the course of the commodore ?

Answer. I think a very strong one, for he would have been left with nothing but his marines.

Question. With enemies in his own household, as it were.

Answer. Yes, sir; with none that he could rely upon but the 23, or 25, or 30 muskets that he had in the marine guard.

Question. Would you make the same remark about Commander Farrand and Lieutenant Renshaw, as to their zeal under the new order of things?

Answer. No, sir; I was not there long enough to see them. Captain Farrand and Lieutenant Renshaw would do nothing until they knew whether their resignations had been received and accepted.

Question. Do you know when they were accepted?

Answer. They were not accepted when I left there, I think; for if they had been I think I would have heard of it. They were both holding aloof until their resignations were accepted.

Question. Were any propositions made to you to enter into the new service there?

Answer. I was asked if I was a Floridian, and I said, no.

And

I was asked if I would render any services in case of any trouble there. I said, that as a humane man I would, certainly, to any human creature suffering; but under orders, none. That was the only question put to me.

Question. You understood it to be impossible for you to come away peaceably without this parole ?

Answer. Without this parole? yes, sir. I would not have done it; I do not suppose I could.

Question. That is, this arrangement was made part of the order of things-part of the established authority?

Answer. Yes, sir.

By Mr. DAWES :

Question. When did you say that you thought mail communication was interrupted between the navy yard and here ?

Answer. I think from the moment they commenced the transportation of troops. I think that led to the interruption; not any disposition to interfere with the mail, but simply from the occupancy of every means of transportation across the break in the road.

Question. When did that occur?

Answer. The first troops from Alabama arrived on the 11th. They were probably a day or two days in getting that body of men, conducting them and their baggage, as they best could, across the twentymile gap. Probably they had been there from the 9th to the 11th. Mr. Lawton was detained there two days in coming on here, and he left after the surrender.

Question. Was there communication between this place and the navy yard by telegraph?

Answer. The telegraph at Pensacola was seized, by order of the governor of Florida, on the 8th, I think.

Question. At the navy yard?

Answer. There is no telegraph at the navy yard; but at Pensacola, 9 miles off, the telegraph was seized, if my memory serves me right, on the 8th, and a sentry stationed there to overlook every telegraphic despatch going and coming.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Question. Can you state what time it takes for the ordinary passage of the mail from this city to Pensacola, when there is no interruption ?

Answer. Before the change of route, when our mails came by the way of Montgomery, Alabama, and from there by stage and the river to Mobile, it was from six to seven days; more frequently seven days than six. But from the time the route was changed, and the mail sent from Montgomery direct to Pensacola, it was five days. And upon the completion of the break we would have had communication in three or four days from New York to Pensacola. This change of route from Montgomery to Pensacola, by railroad, instead of the stage route from Montgomery to Mobile, was made probably about two months ago.

Question. You are sure that Commander Farrand and Lieutenant Renshaw had entered the Florida service before you left?

Answer. Yes, sir; they were in their quarters.

Question. They must have had news, then, of the acceptance of their resignations?

Answer. I do not know whether they had or not; or whether they were holding on in statu quo until they should get that news. But they were still holding their quarters, and still in the occupancy of them:

By Mr. BRANCH:

Question. When was the yard surrendered?
Answer. On the 12th.

Question. Do you know of any means of defence within reach that could have been availed of between the time that the rumor that the yard would be attacked first reached you and the time that it was actually attacked?

Answer. Not available for a defence of more than twenty-four or thirty-six hours at the furthest. It might have been available for that length of time by parley; but the moment that they had the troops there that arrived within twenty-four hours after the capitulation, no power that the commodore could have used could have prevented the people going over the wall as easily as over a barn-yard wall, if they did not knock it down. That is my opinion, though I am not a military man. Others might have seen a better chance for defence.

Question. Do you know of any means of defence that the government at Washington could have furnished in time to save the yard? Answer. No, sir.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Question. This was after you had heard these rumors?

Answer. Yes, sir; the whole was within four or five days.
WM. S. BISHOP.

Passed Assistant Surgeon, United States Navy.

No. 3.

FRIDAY, January 25, 1861.

JAMES ARMSTRONG sworn and examined.

By the CHAIRMAN :

Question. You are a naval officer?

Answer. I am a captain in the navy, sir.

Question. Have you been recently stationed in Florida, at Pensacola? Answer. I have; I assumed the command there on the 30th of October.

Question. This last October?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. And you remained in command there up to the 12th of this month?

Answer. Up to the 12th of January, 1861.
Question. What day did you leave there?
Answer. I left there on the 16th.

The CHAIRMAN. Our object is to get all the facts and circumstances. attending the demand that was made by those forces, regular or irregular, whatever they may be-Florida and Alabama forces-all the facts and circumstances attending the demand made by them for the surrender of the yard. These we will draw out by questions, or you can go on and state them yourself, in your own way.

The WITNESS. I would prefer being asked the questions, because there are so many circumstances, that I might forget some particular part or portion of them.

Question. About what time did you get intimation that this demand, or an attack-either a demand or an attack-was to be made upon the yard?

Answer. I think it was about 12 o'clock. It might have been a little before or a little after. I was informed that there was a strong force coming against the navy yard; that they had already taken possession of the magazine, and stationed guards over that, and were advancing to the gates.

Question. About 12 o'clock of Saturday, the 12th instant?

Answer. Yes, sir; I think it was about that hour. I am not positive. It might have been a few minutes one way or the other; but to the best of my recollection it was about that time of day. When I heard of this, and that a large force had taken possession of the magazine, I came to the conclusion at once that they might just rush right on, because we had no force to resist them; and I went to my office as fast as I possibly could, and took the naval signal books and put them under my coat, and was carrying them up to my house to destroy them, which I did, when I met the commissioners, as they called themselves, and I think Captain Farrand, coming up from the gate towards me. He introduced them to me. I know Captain Randolph, who had recently left the navy, though I had not seen him for many years. He appeared to be very glad to see me, and said, "How