DEAR SIR: Yours of
yesterday, stating that an effort was being made to change the plan of
distributing the mails for the Department of the Tennessee from Memphis to
Cairo, is received.
The mails for this
department are carried by Government through their own agents, I believe, as
far as Memphis. From that point they are distributed by agents detailed by me.
Nearly the entire mail for the department must come to Memphis, whether
distributed elsewhere or not, and, in my opinion, should be gotten to that
point with as little delay as possible. The distribution at Cairo would
necessarily involve some delay, at least for those letters and public documents
intended for the commander of the District of West Tennessee, and would not
hasten the delivery of one single letter within the department. I have,
therefore, to request that no change be made in the present satisfactory postal
arrangement.
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. 448-9
