Cold Harbor,
Virginia,
June 9, 1864.
YOUR two letters
inclosing orders published by Major-General Washburn have been received. I
highly approve the course he is taking, and am glad to see that General Slocum
is pursuing a similar course about Vicksburg. I directed some days ago that the
Sixteenth Corps staff should report to your brother. I recommend, however, that
no commander be named for the Sixteenth Corps until Sherman is heard from, to
know whether he would not prefer the consolidation of that portion of the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps in the field into one corps, and that serving
in garrison from these two corps into another. It makes but little difference,
however, about this, for as soon as this campaign is over it is probable there
will be a reconstruction of departments and commands.
. . . . Everything
is progressing favorably, but slowly. All the fight, except defensive and behind
breastworks, is taken out of Lee's army. Unless my next move brings on a
battle, the balance of the campaign will settle down to a siege. . . .
SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s
Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 34-5
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