[
90]
And writing on the same subject to
Thomas at
Chattanooga, on the 19th of January, he said:
He (Sherman) will proceed eastward as far as Meridian at least, and will thoroughly destroy the roads east and south from there, and, if possible, will throw troops as far east as Selma; or, if he finds Mobile so far unguarded as to make his force sufficient for the enterprise, will go there.
To cooperate with this movement you want to keep up appearances of preparation of an advance from Chattanooga.
It may be necessary even to move a column as far as Lafayette.
This, it will be observed, was written by the
General who ordered the Meridian expedition to an officer whom he desired.
to cooperate with it.
So, while
General Sherman insists that he had no intention of going through to
Mobile, and that he wanted
Banks to keep up a show of attack in that direction, it is evident that
Grant had such a move in mind for him when the orders for the expedition were given.
The general verdict of failure which met
Sherman on his return, called for prompt excuse, and the best at hand was found in the fact that the cavalry force from
Memphis, under
General Sooy Smith, had not reached
Meridian as was intended.
The
Memoirs give this version of
General Smith's operations:
At Memphis I found Brigadier-General W. Sooy Smith with a force of about twenty-five hundred cavalry, which he had, by General Grant's orders, brought across from Middle Tennessee, to assist in our general purpose as well as to punish the rebel General Forrest, who had been most active in harassing our garrisons in West Tennessee and Mississippi. * * * * * * A chief part of the enterprise was to destroy the rebel cavalry commanded by General Forrest, who were a constant threat to our railway communications in Middle Tennessee, and I committed this task to Brigadier-General W. Sooy Smith. General Hurlbut had in his command about seven thousand five hundred cavalry, scattered from Columbus, Kentucky, to Corinth, Mississippi, and we proposed to make up an aggregate cavalry force of about seven thousand “effective” out of these and the twenty-five hundred which General Smith had brought with him from Middle Tennessee.
With this force General Smith was ordered to move from Memphis straight for Meridian, Mississippi, and to start by February 1st.
I explained to him personally the nature of Forrest as a man, and of his peculiar force; told
