HDQRS. MILITARY
DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field, Ship's
Gap, Ga., October 17, 1864.
General SCHOFIELD:
Your dispatch is received. Hood is not at Deer Head Cove. We
occupy Ship's Gap and La Fayette. Hood is moving south, via Summerville,
Alpine, and Gadsden. If he enters Tennessee it will be to the left of
Huntsville, but I think he has given up all such idea. I want the road repaired
to Atlanta, the sick and wounded sent north of the Tennessee, my army
recomposed, and I will make the interior of Georgia feel the weight of war. It
is folly for me to be moving our armies on the reports of scouts and citizens.
We must maintain the offensive. Your first move on Trenton and Valley Head was
right; the move to defend Caperton's Ferry is wrong. Notify General Thomas of
these my views. We must follow Hood till he is beyond reach of mischief and
then resume the offensive.
W. T. SHERMAN,
Major-General,
Commanding.
SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
39, Part 2 (Serial No. 79), p. 335; John Bell Hood, Advance and
Retreat, p. 264
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