HDQRS. MILITARY
DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field,
Allatoona October 9, 1864 – 7.30. p.m..
(Received 11 a.m. 10th.)
Lieutenant-General GRANT,
City Point, Va.:
It will be a physical impossibility to protect the roads,
now that Hood, Forrest, and Wheeler, and the whole batch of devils, are turned
loose without home or habitation. I think Hood's movements indicate a diversion
to the end of the Selma and Talladega Railroad at Blue Mountain, about sixty
miles southwest of Rome, from which he will threaten Kingston, Bridgeport, and
Decatur, Ala. I propose we break up the railroad from Chattanooga, and strike
out with wagons for Milledgeville, Millen, and Savannah. Until we can
repopulate Georgia, it is useless to occupy it, but the utter destruction of
its roads, houses, and people will cripple their military resources. By
attempting to hold the roads we will lose 1,000 men monthly, and will gain no
result. I can make the march, and make Georgia howl. We have over 8,000 cattle:
and 3,000,000 of bread, but no corn; but we can forage in the interior of the
State.
W. T. SHERMAN,
Major-General, Commanding
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
39, Part 3 (Serial No. 79), p. 162
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