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‘This movement is not purely military or strategic, but it will illustrate the vulnerability of the South.’
Colonel Bowman, in his ‘
Sherman and his Campaigns,’ a work written in the interest of
Sherman, commenting upon the above letter, says:
‘General Grant promptly authorized the proposed movement, indicating, however, his preference for Savannah as the objective, and fixing Dalton as the northern limit for the destruction of the railway.’
To this alternative letter
Halleck replied, under date of October 31:
‘The alternatives mentioned in your letter of October 19th will be prepared for by boats at Hilton Head and Pensacola, with means of transportation to any point where required.’
Certain correspondence, which passed between
General Sherman before
Atlanta and
General Canby before
Mobile, has a forcible bearing upon the questions under consideration.
It will be noticed that this correspondence began some weeks before the capture of
Atlanta, and related to a move beyond upon
Montgomery:
Dispatch of the 6th received. * * * * If possible the
Alabama River should be possessed by us in connection with my movement.
I could easily open communication to
Montgomery, but I doubt if you will have troops enough until the September draft.
I can press on
Atlanta good, but I do not want
Kirby Smith here. * * * *
* * * * I have a reserve of twelve thousand men up the river to watch
Kirby Smith.
I do not think he can cross in any force without being discovered in time to prevent it, but I can not use this force against
Mobile and prevent a passage.
The route you suggested has been considered, and with twenty thousand men we could control the
Alabama River from
Mobile to
Montgomery. *
