Dana, Assistant
Secretary of War, and Colonel Wilson, of my Staff, sent at the
instance of General Burnside, informing me more fully of the
condition of affairs as detailed to them by him, I telegraphed
him as follows:

"To Chattanooga, November 15th, 1863.
"MAJOR-GENERAL A. E. BURNSIDE.

"I do not know how to impress on you the necessity of holding on
to East Tennessee in strong enough terms. According to the
despatches of Mr. Dana and Colonel Wilson, it would seem that you
should, if pressed to do it, hold on to Knoxville and that
portion of the valley which you will necessarily possess, holding
to that point. Should Longstreet move his whole force across the
Little Tennessee, an effort should be made to cut his pontoons on
that stream, even if it sacrificed half the cavalry of the Ohio
army. By holding on and placing Longstreet between the Little
Tennessee and Knoxville, he should not be allowed to escape with
an army capable of doing anything this winter. I can hardly
conceive of the necessity of retreating from East Tennessee. If I
did so at all, it would be after losing most of the army, and
then necessity would suggest the route. I will not attempt to lay
out a line of retreat. Kingston, looking at the map, I thought of
more importance than any one point in East Tennessee. But my
attention being called more closely to it, I can see that it
might be passed by, and Knoxville and the rich valley about it
possessed, ignoring that place entirely. I should not think it
advisable to concentrate a force near the Little Tennessee; (p. 399)
to resist the crossing of it would be in danger of capture, but I
would harass and embarrass progress in every way possible,
reflecting on the fact that the Army of the Ohio is not the only
army to resist the onward progress of the enemy.

"U. S. GRANT,
"_Major-General_."

Previous reconnoissances, made first by Brigadier-General W. F.
Smith, Chief Engineer, and afterward by Thomas Sherman, and
myself in company with him, of the country opposite Chattanooga
and north of the Tennessee river, extending as far east as the
mouth of the North Chicamauga, and also of the mouth of the South
Chicam