On September 2, Lexington was occupied by Kirby Smith’s infantry. He reports to General Cooper that the Union killed and wounded exceed 1000; “the prisoners amount to between 5000 and 6000; the loss--besides some twenty pieces of artillery, including that taken here (Lexington) and at Frankfort--9000 small arms and large quantities of supplies.” The Confederate cavalry, he reports, pursued the Union forces to within twelve miles of Louisville; and, he adds: “I have sent a small force to Frankfort, to take possession of the arsenal and public property there. I am pushing some forces in the direction of Cincinnati, in order to give the people of Kentucky time to organize. General Heth, with the advance, is at Cynthiana, with orders to threaten Covington.” This invasion of Kentucky was due to Halleck, as was proved before the military court appointed “to inquire into and report upon the operations of the forces under command of Major-General Buell in the States of Tennessee and Kentucky, and particularly in reference to General Buell suffering the State of Kentucky to be invaded by the rebel forces under General Bragg,” etc. That court was in session from November 27, 1862, until May 6, 1863, with the gallant Major-General Lew Wallace presiding. Its opinion recited that Halleck had ordered General Buell to march against Chattanooga and take it, with the ulterior object of dislodging Kirby Smith and his rebel force from East Tennessee; that General Buell had force sufficient to accomplish the object if he could have marched promptly to Chattanooga; that the plan of operation prescribed by General Halleck compelled General Buell to repair the Memphis and Charleston railroad from Corinth to Decatur, and put it in running order; that the road proved of comparatively little service; that the work forced such delays that a prompt march upon Chattanooga was impossible, while they made the rebel invasion of Tennessee and Kentucky possible. Our forces were driven northward to the Ohio, leaving the Memphis and Charleston railroad in excellent condition for the use of the Confederates. Strangely enough, Halleck’s orders to Buell had inured to the benefit of the Confederates in the West, in the same manner and along the same lines as his orders to McClellan and to Pope had inured to the benefit of the Confederates in the East. Both Washington and Cincinnati were imperiled at the same time, and by the same officer, General-in-Chief Halleck, and in the same way--by a succession of steps that appear to have been carefully planned. Now, mark what follows. On March 1, 1872, the House of Representatives called upon the Secretary of War for a copy of the proceedings of that military court; and on April 13 the Secretary reported to the House, “that a careful and exhaustive search among all the records and files in this Department fails to discover what disposition was made of the proceedings of the Commission,” etc.