Memoirs of General Sherman, vol 2 | Page 5

feeling of the Southern people was fearfully savage on this
very point of our making soldiers out of their late slaves, and Forrest
may have shared the feeling.
I also had another serious cause of disturbance about that time. I
wanted badly the two divisions of troops which had been loaned to
General Banks in the month of March previously, with the express
understanding that their absence was to endure only one month, and
that during April they were to come out of Red River, and be again
within the sphere of my command. I accordingly instructed one of my
inspector-generals, John M. Corse, to take a fleet steamboat at
Nashville, proceed via Cairo, Memphis, and Vicksburg, to General
Banks up the Red River, and to deliver the following letter of April 3d,
as also others, of like tenor, to Generals A. J. Smith and Fred Steele,
who were supposed to be with him:
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, April 3, 1864
Major-General N. P. BANKS, commanding Department of the Gulf,
Red River.
GENERAL: The thirty days for which I loaned you the command of

General A. J. Smith will expire on the 10th instant. I send with this
Brigadier-General J. M. Corse, to carry orders to General A. J. Smith,
and to give directions for a new movement, which is preliminary to the
general campaign. General Corse may see you and explain in full, but,
lest he should not find you in person, I will simply state that Forrest,
availing himself of the absence of our furloughed men and of the
detachment with you, has pushed up between the Mississippi and
Tennessee Rivers, even to the Ohio. He attacked Paducah, but got the
worst of it, and he still lingers about the place. I hope that he will
remain thereabouts till General A. J. Smith can reach his destined point,
but this I can hardly expect; yet I want him to reach by the Yazoo a
position near Grenada, thence to operate against Forrest, after which to
march across to Decatur, Alabama. You will see that he has a big job,
and therefore should start at once. From all that I can learn, my troops
reached Alexandria, Louisiana, at the time agreed on, viz., March 17th,
and I hear of them at Natchitoches, but cannot hear of your troops
being above Opelousas.
Steele is also moving. I leave Steele's entire force to cooperate with you
and the navy, but, as I before stated, I must have A. T. Smith's troops
now as soon as possible.
I beg you will expedite their return to Vicksburg, if they have not
already started, and I want them if possible to remain in the same boats
they have used up Red River, as it will save the time otherwise
consumed in transfer to other boats.
All is well in this quarter, and I hope by the time you turn against
Mobile our forces will again act toward the same end, though from
distant points. General Grant, now having lawful control, will doubtless
see that all minor objects are disregarded, and that all the armies act on
a common plan.
Hoping, when this reaches you, that you will be in possession of
Shreveport, I am, with great respect, etc.,
W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.
Rumors were reaching us thick and fast of defeat and disaster in that
quarter; and I feared then, what afterward actually happened, that
neither General Banks nor Admiral Porter could or would spare those
two divisions. On the 23d of April, General Corse returned, bringing
full answers to my letters, and I saw that we must go on without them.

This was a serious loss to the Army of the Tennessee, which was also
short by two other divisions that were on their veteran furlough, and
were under orders to rendezvous at Cairo, before embarking for Clifton,
on the Tennessee River.
On the 10th of April, 1864, the headquarters of the three Armies of the
Cumberland, Tennessee, and Ohio, were at Chattanooga., Huntsville,
and Knoxville, and the tables on page 16, et seq., give their exact
condition and strength.
The Department of the Arkansas was then subject to my command, but
General Fred Steele, its commander, was at Little Rock, remote from
me, acting in cooperation with General Banks, and had full
employment for every soldier of his command; so that I never
depended on him for any men, or for any participation in the Georgia
campaign. Soon after, viz., May 8th, that department was transferred to
the Military Division of "the Gulf," or "Southwest," Major-General E.
R. S. Canby commanding, and General Steele served with him in the
subsequent movement against Mobile.
In Generals Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield, I had three generals of
education and experience, admirably qualified