Jackson, Tenn.,
October 16th, 1862,
Dear Sister:
I received your letter by due course of mail and expected
before this to have answered one of your questions in the shape of an official
report; that is the one where you ask me the part I played at the battle of Iuka.
When the reports of subalterns come in I will make my report which no doubt
will be published and will be a full answer to your question. I had no more to
do with troops under General Ord than I had with those under Rosecrans, but
gave the orders to both. The plan was admirably laid for catching Price and his
whole army, but owing to the nature of the ground, direction of the wind, and
General Rosecrans having been so far behind where he was expected to be on the
morning before the attack, it failed. In the late battles we have gained such a
moral advantage over them however, with Van Dorn and Lovell added, that I do
not know but it may have all been for the best.
I have written to Julia to come down here to spend a short
time. It will probably be but a short time that she can stay, but so long as I
remain here this will be a pleasant place for her. — If the children have not
already been sent to Covington I told her to bring them with her. In the last
letter I received she said she was about sending them to Covington.
I believe you have now got it all quiet on the Ohio. I hope
it will soon be so every place else. It does look to me that we now have such
an advantage over the rebels that there should be but little more hard
fighting.
Give my love to all at home. Write often and without
expecting either very prompt or very long replies.
ULYS.
SOURCE: Jesse Grant Cramer, Editor, Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Father and His Youngest Sister,
1857-78, p. 93-4
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