had
some time before depleted Thomas's army to reinforce Canby, for the
reason that Thomas had failed to start an expedition which he had been
ordered to send out, and to have the troops where they might do
something. Canby seemed to be equally deliberate in all of his
movements. I ordered him to go in person; but he prepared to send a
detachment under another officer. General Granger had got down to New
Orleans, in some way or other, and I wrote Canby that he must not put
him in command of troops. In spite of this he asked the War Department
to assign Granger to the command of a corps.

Almost in despair of having adequate service rendered to the cause in
that quarter, I said to Canby: "I am in receipt of a dispatch * * *
informing me that you have made requisitions for a construction corps
and material to build seventy miles of railroad. I have directed that
none be sent. Thomas's army has been depleted to send a force to you
that they might be where they could act in winter, and at least detain
the force the enemy had in the West. If there had been any idea of
repairing railroads, it could have been done much better from the North,
where we already had the troops. I expected your movements to be
co-operative with Sherman's last. This has now entirely failed. I
wrote to you long ago, urging you to push promptly and to live upon the
country, and destroy railroads, machine shops, etc., not to build them.
Take Mobile and hold it, and push your forces to the interior--to
Montgomery and to Selma. Destroy railroads, rolling stock, and
everything useful for carrying on war, and, when you have done this,
take such positions as can be supplied by water. By this means alone
you can occupy positions from which the enemy's roads in the interior
can be kept broken."

Most of these expeditions got off finally, but too late to render any
service in the direction for which they were designed.

The enemy, ready to intercept his advance, consisted of Hardee's troops
and Wheeler's cavalry, perhaps less than fifteen thousand men in all;
but frantic efforts were being made in Richmond, as I was sure would be
the case, to retard Sherman's movements. Everything possible was being
done to raise troops in the South. Lee dispatched against Sherman the
troops which had been sent to relieve Fort Fisher, which, including
those of the other defences of the harbor and its neighborhood,
amounted, after deducting the two thousand kil