HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT
OF WEST TENNESSEE,
Fort Donelson,
February 25, 1862.
Brig. Gen. G. W. CULLUM, Cairo, Ill.:
I wrote you that General Nelson's division had been sent to
Nashville. Since that I have learned that the head of General Buell's column
arrived there on Monday evening. The rebels have fallen back to Chattanooga,
instead of Murfreesborough, as stated in a former letter. I shall go to
Nashville immediately after the arrival of the next mail, should there be no
orders to prevent it.
The soldiers of the Eighth Missouri Volunteers who were
disguised and sent to Memphis have just returned. They went by the way of
Nashville and Decatur. Saw Beauregard at Decatur sick; he has since gone to
Columbus. They were in Fort Donelson before the attack commenced, and say the
force was estimated at 40,000.
Since the battle the people through the country are much
disposed to return to their allegiance. Orders have been given for the
evacuation of Columbus. This I learn not only from the men themselves, but from
Memphis papers which they bring with them. I send two of these papers to
General Halleck. I am growing anxious to know what the next move is going to
be. The Southern papers advise the Columbus forces to fall back on Island No.
10 and to Fort Pillow. The force at Memphis is said to be about 12,000.
U.S. GRANT,
Brigadier-General.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
7 (Serial No. 7), p. 666
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