Major-General Ulysses S. Grant to Brigadier-General Nathan Kimball, June 3, 1863

NEAR VICKSBURG, MISS., June 3, 1863.

Brig. Gen. NATHAN KIMBALL,

Commanding Third Division, Sixteenth Army Corps:

You will proceed with your command* to Satartia, on the Yazoo River, thence to Mechanicsburg, 3 miles distant. You will find General Mower there with one brigade, and a force of 1,200 cavalry in addition. Being the senior officer, you will have command of the whole force.

Instructions have been given for a movement to destroy Black River bridge, on the Mississippi Central Railroad. General Mower will inform you of the instructions given.

The object of placing troops at Mechanicsburg is to watch the movements of the enemy, who are said to be collecting a large force in the vicinity of Canton.

With your cavalry you will watch all the ferries over Big Black, north of Bridgeport. Obstruct all roads leading west from the river, not wanted by yourself, in every way possible. Collect all the forage, cattle, and provisions you can, and destroy what you cannot bring away. It is important that the country be left so that it cannot subsist an army passing over it. Wagons, horses, and mules should be taken from the citizens to keep them from being used with the Southern Army. All negroes coming into your lines send to Haynes' Bluff, unless their services are required with your command. One gunboat and one transport, besides the commissary boat, should be kept at Satartia at all times.

The chief quartermaster at Chickasaw Bayou Landing, and ordnance officer at same place, will supply everything required for your command from their respective departments. It is desirable that all possible information should be acquired of the movements of the enemy, and sent promptly to these headquarters.

You are, therefore, authorized to employ spies, and send orders on the chief quartermaster, Lieutenant-Colonel Bingham, to be approved at these headquarters, for payment.

U.S. GRANT.

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* Troops from the Third and Sixth Divisions, Sixteenth Army Corps.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 24, Part 3 (Serial No. 38), p. 379