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Commanders of districts will uniformly hold their troops in readiness for service (as regards instruction, arms, ammunition, and clothing), either in or out of the department, at an hour's notice.

The utmost diligence and vigor are enjoined on the part of officers upon whom the drafting now in progress has devolved, and also upon the officers engaged in forwarding the men to the field. The immediate re-enforcement of our armies is a necessity to a full realization of the hopes and expectations of the nation. Officers intrusted with the safekeeping of the prisoners in the department will exercise unceasing vigilance in the performance of their duties. Those having the depots of public property in charge will look well to their protection.

Maj. Gen. C. C. WASHBURN,

JOSEPH HOOKER, Major-General of Volunteers.

EAST POINT, GA., October 1, 1864.
(Received 5th.)

Memphis:

I was not aware that your cavalry had gone until Colonel Howard's arrival. The order regarding Eastport was from General Sherman. Comply with it as soon as you have force enough. Get your cavalry and infantry back as soon as you can consistently.

Major HOLAHAN,

White's Station:

0. O. HOWARD,

Major-General.

MEMPHIS, TENN., October 1, 1864.

It is reported that Wirt Adams has joined Chalmers for the purpose of attacking White's Station. You will keep your patrols of observation well out and send any information by telegraph promptly, both to these headquarters and to General Washburn's. Hold General Hatch's camp equipage in readiness to move in case your information may prompt it. I will support you from here.

B. H. GRIERSON,
Brigadier-General.

HDQRS. FIRST BRIG., SECOND DIV., CAVALRY CORPS,

Col. J. W. NOBLE,

Camp Howard, October 1, 1864.

Comdg. Second Div., Cavalry Corps, Dist. of West Tennessee: COLONEL: I have the honor to report to you that I have just been informed of a small force of rebels on the Hernando road, near the vedette post; also a force of from 75 to 100 crossing the Charleston and Memphis Railroad about 3 p. m. to-day, only half a mile from the vedette post. I have sent one officer with fifty men on the Hernando road, and two officers with seventy-five men on the Charleston and Memphis Railroad.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. C. HESS,

Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding Brigade.

(Indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, CAVALRY CORPS,
Memphis, Tenn., October 1, 1864.

Capt. S. L. WOODWARD,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Cavalry Corps:

Forwarded for the information of the general commanding. I deem the action of Lieutenant-Colonel Hess is all that is required, and will do nothing more unless required by further orders.

JOHN W. NOBLE,
Colonel, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, D. C., October 2, 1864.

Lieutenant-General GRANT, City Point:

GENERAL: Some time since General Sherman asked my opinion in regard to his operations after the capture of Atlanta. While free to give advice to the best of my ability, I felt it my duty to refer him to you for instructions, not being advised of your views on that subject. I presume from his dispatches that you have corresponded upon the subject, and perhaps his plan of future operations has already been decided upon. At one time he seemed most decidedly of opinion that he ought to operate by Montgomery and Selma and connect himself with Canby and Farragut on the Alabama River, thus severing the northern part of Georgia and Alabama and all of Mississippi from the rebel Confederacy. This view was. taken in his letters to General Canby, copies of which were sent to the Adjutant-General's Office, and in this opinion I fully concurred, and so wrote both to him and Canby, directing them, however, to make no important movements till they received your instructions. I judge from a dispatch just received from General Sherman that he is now proposing to move eastwardly toward Augusta or Millen, expecting to connect with the coast by the Savannah River. Whether this is simply a suggestion or change of opinion on his part, or the result of his consultation with you, or of your orders to him, I have no means of knowing. All I wish to say or know upon the subject is, that if any definite plans have been adopted it is desirable that the Secretary of War or myself should be informed of that plan as early as possible. Large requisitions have been received within the last day or two from General Canby's staff officers for water transportation and quartermaster, commissary, and medical stores to be sent to Mobile and Pensacola for an army of 30,000 or 40,000 men. Indeed, in the single. article of forage the amount asked for is more than can possibly be furnished in the Northern and Eastern States, and more than all the available sea-going vessels in Northern ports could float. On receiving these requisitions I directed General Meigs to take active measures to fill them so far as possible, but to make no shipments until further orders. Now, if General Sherman is going to move east to connect with the coast by the Savannah River these stores should not be shipped to Mobile or Pensacola, but to Hilton Head, and transportation be sent to New Orleans to move all available troops to that point. Moreover, operations at Mobile should in that case be limited to a mere demonstration and continued only so long as they may serve to deceive the enemy. It is exceedingly important that some definite conclusion should be arrived at as early as possible, for the expenses of the water transportation, and especially of the demurrage of large fleets, are enormous.

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Perhaps it may be desirable that I should give my reasons in brief for concurring with General Sherman in his first proposed plan of operations. In the first place, that line of connection with the coast is the shortest and most direct; second, by cutting off a smaller slice of rebel territory it is not so directly exposed, and leaves a smaller force to attack in rear; third, it does not leave Tennessee and Kentucky so open to rebel raids; fourth, the Alabama River is more navigable for our gun-boats than the Savannah; fifth, this line is more defensible for General Canby's troops than the other; sixth, Montgomery, Selma, and Mobile are, in a military point of view, more important than Augusta, Millen, and Savannah; seventh, Mobile can be more easily captured than Savannah, and eighth, this line will bring within our control a more valuable and important section of country than that by the Savannah. There is a section of country from fifty to one hundred and fifty miles wide extending from Selma west to Meridian, and thence north on both sides of the Tombigbee to Columbus, Aberdeen, and Okolona, more rich in agricultural products than any equal extent of country in the Confederacy. Slave labor has been but very little disturbed in this section, and the large crops of this year are being collected at Demopolis, Selma, Montgomery, and other points for the use of the rebel army. By moving upon that line they will be converted to our use or be destroyed. By moving on Augusta they will be left for the use of Hood's forces.

I do not write this for the purpose of influencing your adoption of a particular plan of campaign, or of changing your decision, if you have adopted any plan, but simply to urge on you an early decision if you have not already made one. It is proper, however, to remark that I have taken every possible means to obtain correct information on the subject and present these conclusions only after thorough examination and the most mature consideration.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. W. HALLECK, Major-General and Chief of Staff.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
Nashville, Tenn., October 2, 1864.

Brig. Gen. J. L. DONALDSON,

Chief Quartermaster, Department of the Cumberland: GENERAL: It is highly desirable that every man that can be mounted should be. To do this it will be necessary to get every horse and saddle that can be raised in your department. You will please have turned over to Captain Irvin by 3 p. m. to-day for issue to the cavalry, under instructions from chief of cavalry, all public animals that can be spared. Officers, clerks, &c., have horses to which they are not entitled. These must be turned in to Captain Irvin by 3 p. m. to-day. The saddles, horses, &c., will be receipted for. It has been observed that many fine cavalry horses are used as carriage horses by officers. These, of course, should be turned over. Please have the matter attended to at once, as the emergency is great.

By order of Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman:

J. D. WEBSTER,

Brigadier-General.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field, Atlanta, Ga., October 2, 1864.

Maj. Gen. D. S. STANLEY:

Move your command, with orders for your wagons to follow with ten days' rations, to Chattahoochee bridge, and in the direction of Marietta as far as the rebel intrenchments about Smyrna Camp-Ground. Open communication with General Elliott, who is over toward the Sweet Water and Noyes' Creek, and communicate with me promptly all matters of importance by telegraph from the bridge.

General WHITAKER:

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS FOURTH ARMY CORPS,
Atlanta, Ga., October 2, 1864.

The general commanding directs that you move with your command to-morrow morning at daylight, with two days' rations in haversacks, and forty rounds of ammunition in cartridge-boxes.

The following will be the order of march: Third Division, First Division, artillery, ammunition trains, headquarters trains, ten ambulances to each division, regimental wagons. The divisions will march, right in front, through the city of Atlanta and out Marietta street. March at the time indicated above without further orders from these headquarters, reporting at these headquarters as the separate divisions arrive. Pickets will be drawn in at 3 in the morning. By command of Major-General Stanley:

J. S. FULLERTON, Assistant Adjutant-General.

(Same to General Wood and Captain Bridges.)

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field, Atlanta, Ga., October 2, 1864.

General JEFF. C. DAVIS:
Communicate with General Howard, and be prepared to send into
Atlanta all your troops and to move, with ten days' rations, toward
Marietta or to Fairburn, as the case may call for. I think Hood has
crossed the Chattahoochee with two corps to attack our road, and has
left one corps on this side, near Campbellton. We should interpose.
W. T. SHERMAN,
Major-General, Commanding.

Major-General SHERMAN:

CARTERSVILLE, October 2, 1864.

(Through General Elliott, chief of cavalry.)

One of my scouts just in reports nothing at Burnt Hickory, and one regiment of Texan cavalry, 400 or 500 strong, at Dallas. Rebel parties are gathering forage, &c., and taking it toward Cedartown. I have sent to Villa Rica and Buchanan to-day. I can't picket Burnt Hickory; it is seventeen miles from here. I have only 170 mounted men, but send scouts there daily.

E. M. McCOOK,
Brigadier-General.

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HDQRS. CHIEF OF CAVALRY, DEPT. OF THE CUMBERLAND,

Brig. Gen. K. GARRARD,

Atlanta, Ga., October 2, 1864.

Comdg. Second Cavalry Division, Dept. of the Cumberland: GENERAL: The general commanding directs me to inform you that the Fourth Corps moves to-morrow at daylight, to cross the river. directs that you have your command all across, so as not to delay its march, and march for Powder Springs.

am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. E. JACOBS,

Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. THIRD DIV. CAV., DEPT. OF THE CUMBERLAND,
Sweet Water Town, October 2, 1864-7 a. m..

Brigadier-General ELLIOTT:

GENERAL: General Sherman's instructions have been received. Major Jennings has arrived. I am pushing a reconnaissance toward Powder Springs and Dalton and Villa Rica. The creek is very high; cannot be forded. My bridge, I think, will stand.

J. KILPATRICK, Brigadier-General, Commanding Cavalry Division.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field, Atlanta, Ga., October 2, 1864.

Major-General HOWARD,

Commanding Army of the Tennessee:

There is a flood in the Chattahoochee, which has damaged our railroad bridge, and will, of course, carry away any of Hood's bridges. I want that reconnaissance pushed out boldly. As soon as it reaches Fairburn let me know, as I may push it on to the rear of their bridge. All the valuable part of the enemy's cavalry is over beyond Sweet Water, and we can do them damage on this side now. The same cause which produced the rise in the Chattahoochee will affect the Tennessee, and Forrest will be in danger with a swollen river to his rear.

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W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE,

October 2, 1864.

Major-General SHERMAN:

Your dispatch received.

I have sent word to General Ransom to re

port to me as soon as he arrives at Fairburn, and not to hasten his

march back unless compelled to.

O. O. HOWARD,
Major-General.

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