Commanding District of Northeastern Louisiana:
I have ordered General Mowers brigade over to re-enforce you. He is sent merely for temporary service, to repel any threatened attack. With the force you will have with this accession, 1 think you can drive the enemy beyond the Tensas River. If, however, you think more force is required, let me know, and it will be promptly sent.
If the enemy is in the neighborhood of Richmond, he should be driven from there, and our troops should push on to Monroe. Every vestige of an enemy's camp ought to be shoved back of that point. I am not fully advised of the force you are likely to meet, but cannot think it large. No such blind move could be made by an intelligent foe as to send more than a force for a raid into such a pocket.
Let me hear what intelligence you have from the rebel forces concentrating on the peninsula.
U.S. GRANT.
P. S.—You understand that all the troops in the District of Northeastern Louisiana, both black and white, are subject to your orders. At Lake Providence you have two white regiments that can join you in any movement toward Monroe.
U. S. G.
SOURCES: John Y. Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 8, p. 326-7; 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. 390
