Ridge; repelled, with heavy loss to him, his repeated assaults upon Knoxville, forcing him to raise the siege there; driving him at all points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the limits of the state. By your noble heroism and determined courage, you have most effectually defeated the plans of the enemy for regaining possession of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. You have secured positions from which no rebellious power can drive or dislodge you. For all this, the General commanding thanks you, collectively and individually. The loyal people of the United States thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers for your success against this unholy rebellion are with you daily. Their faith in you will not be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their prayers to Almighty God will be answered. You will yet go to other fields of strife; and with the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to justice and right which have characterized you in the past, you will prove that no enemy can withstand you, and that no defences, however formidable, can check your onward march.

By order of

T. S. BOWERS, A. A. G.

Major General U. S. GRANT.

After the defeat at Chattanooga, General Bragg, at his own request, was relieved from the command of the army on the 2d of December, and Hardee put in his place. When Grant heard this, he is reported to have said, "He is just my choice." Bragg was "charged with the conduct of the military operations of the armies of the Confederacy;" and his last appearance on the public stage was as commander in North Carolina, when Fort Fisher fell.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

PLANS FOR THE NEXT CAMPAIGN. - SHERMAN'S EXPEDITION.

- GRANT VISITS ST. LOUIS. HIS SPEECHES THERE.

ABOUT Christmas Grant went in person to Knoxville, to inspect the condition of the army there, and found the men in great want of clothing, particularly of shoes. The difficulties of the route, and the season of the year, rendered it almost impossible to remedy this, but all that could be done was done. On the 11th he wrote to McPherson, who had been left in command of Vicksburg, concerning a cavalry expedition to move through Mississippi, and "clean out the state entirely of all rebels." On the 13th he returned to Nashville, where his headquarters were now established, coming by way of Cumberland Gap, which had been a point so frequently contested. On the 15th he wrote to Halleck, "Sherman has gone down the Mississippi to collect, at Vicksburg, all the force that can be spared for a separate movement from the Mississippi. He will probably have ready, by the 24th of this month, a force of twenty thousand men. . . . I shall direct Sherman, therefore, to move out to Meridian, with his spare force, the cavalry going from Corinth, and destroy the roads east and south of there so effectually, that the enemy will not attempt to rebuild them during the rebellion. He will then return, unless opportunity of going into Mo

bile with the force he has appears perfectly plain. Owing to the large number of veterans furloughed, I will not be able to do more, at Chattanooga, than to threaten an advance, and try to detain the force now in Thomas's front. Sherman will be instructed, whilst left with these large discretionary powers, to take no extra hazard of losing his army, or of getting it crippled too much for efficient service in the spring."

The same letter contained an exposition of Grant's plan of campaign for the following spring. "I look upon the next line for me to secure to be that from Chattanooga to Mobile; Montgomery and Atlanta being the important intermediate points. To do this large supplies must be secured on the Tennessee River, so as to be independent of the railroad from here [Nashville] to the Tennessee for a considerable length of time. Mobile would be a second base. The destruction which Sherman will do to the roads around Meridian will be of material importance to us in preventing the enemy from drawing supplies from Mississippi, and in clearing that section of all large bodies of rebel troops. . . . I do not look upon any points, except Mobile in the south, and the Tennessee River in the north, as presenting practicable starting-points from which to operate against Atlanta and Montgomery. They are objectionable, as starting-points, to be all under one command, from the fact that the time it will take to communicate from one to the other will be so great. But Sherman or McPherson, either one of whom could be intrusted with the distant command, are officers of such experience and reliability, that the objections on this score, except that of enabling the two armies to act as a unit, would be removed."

A copy of this letter was sent to Sherman with the following remarks: "The letter contains all the instructions I deem necessary in your present move. . . . Nearly all the troops in Thomas's and Dodge's command, having less than one year to serve, have reenlisted, and many of them have been furloughed. This, with the fact that Longstreet's force in East Tennessee makes it necessary for me to keep ready a force to meet them, will prevent my doing much more than is indicated in my letter to General Halleck. I will have, however, both Dodge and Logan ready, so that, if the enemy should weaken himself much in front, they can advance."

On. the 19th Thomas was informed of this contemplated movement, and directed to coöperate with it as follows: "To coöperate with this movement," said Grant, "you want to keep up the appearance of preparation for an advance from Chattanooga. It may be necessary even to move a column as far as La Fayette. Logan will also be instructed to move at the same time what force he can from Bellefontaine towards Rome. We will want to be ready at the earliest possible moment in the spring for a general advance. I look upon the line for this army to secure, in its next campaign, to be that from Chattanooga to Mobile; Atlanta and Montgomery being the important intermediate points."

On the 23d he wrote to Halleck, "I am now collecting as large a cavalry force as can be spared, at Savannah, Tennessee, to cross the Tennessee River, and cooperate with the cavalry from Hurlbut's command in clearing out entirely the forces now collecting in West

Tennessee, under Forrest. It is the design that the cavalry, after finishing the work they first start upon,' shall push south, through East Mississippi, and destroy the Mobile road as far south as they can. Sherman goes to Memphis and Vicksburg in person, and will' have Grenada visited, and such other points on the Mississippi Central Railroad as may require it. I want the State of Mississippi so visited that large armies cannot traverse it this winter."

Sherman left Vicksburg on the 3d of February; on the 14th he entered Meridian, a railroad centre, between Vicksburg and Montgomery, and for five days ten thousand men were engaged in destroying the railroads centring here; and the injury they suffered now did good service, the next year, in preventing Hood from conveying his troops quickly against Thomas in the battle at Nashville, so that Thomas had time to prepare for his reception, by bringing together his reenforcements even from as far as Missouri.

On the 28th Sherman returned to Vicksburg, having destroyed the railroads of the state, so as to render it impossible for the Confederates to make use of them in maintaining an army in Mississippi, or in operating against our possession of the Mississippi River. He had also maintained his army principally from the enemy's country, and had learned the secret he was afterwards to display so brilliantly. He had brought away four hundred prisoners, five thousand negroes, about a thousand white refugees, and three thousand animals. He had marched about four hundred miles in a month, and his army was in better health and condition than when they started. His loss was twenty