ose of sending Sherman
siege guns, and also if he should find he had them to spare, supplies of
clothing, hard bread, etc., thinking that these articles might not be
found outside. The mail on the steamer which I sent down, had been
collected by Colonel A. H. Markland of the Post Office Department, who
went in charge of it. On this same vessel I sent an officer of my staff
(Lieutenant Dunn) with the following letter to General Sherman:

CITY POINT, VA., Dec. 3, 1864.

MAJOR-GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN, Commanding Armies near Savannah, Ga.

The little information gleaned from the Southern press, indicating no
great obstacle to your progress, I have directed your mails (which had
been previously collected at Baltimore by Colonel Markland, Special
Agent of the Post Office Department) to be sent as far as the blockading
squadron off Savannah, to be forwarded to you as soon as heard from on
the coast.

Not liking to rejoice before the victory is assured, I abstain from
congratulating you and those under your command, until bottom has been
struck. I have never had a fear, however, for the result.

Since you left Atlanta, no very great progress has been made here. The
enemy has been closely watched though, and prevented from detaching
against you. I think not one man has gone from here, except some twelve
or fifteen hundred dismounted cavalry. Bragg has gone from Wilmington.
I am trying to take advantage of his absence to get possession of that
place. Owing to some preparations Admiral Porter and General Butler are
making to blow up Fort Fisher (which, while hoping for the best, I do
not believe a particle in), there is a delay in getting this expedition
off. I hope they will be ready to start by the 7th, and that Bragg will
not have started back by that time.

In this letter I do not intend to give you anything like directions for
future action, but will state a general idea I have, and will get your
views after you have established yourself on the sea-coast. With your
veteran army I hope to get control of the only two through routes from
east to west possessed by the enemy before the fall of Atlanta. The
condition will be filled by holding Savannah and Augusta, or by holding
any other port to the east of Savannah and Branchville. If Wilmington
falls, a force from there can co-operate with you.

Thomas has got back into the defences of Nashville, with Hood close upon
him. Decatur has been abandoned, and so have