You remember we had fine weather last February for our Meridian trip, and my memory of the weather at Charleston is, that February is usually a fine month.  Before the March storms come we should be within striking distance of the coast.  The months of April and May will be the best for operations from Goldsboro’ to Raleigh and the Roanoke.  You may rest assured that I will keep my troops well in hand, and, if I get worsted, will aim to make the enemy pay so dearly that you will have less to do.  I know that this trip is necessary; it must be made sooner or later; I am on time, and in the right position for it.  My army is large enough for the purpose, and I ask no reinforcement, but simply wish the utmost activity to be kept up at all other points, so that concentration against me may not be universal.

I suspect that Jeff.  Davis will move heaven and earth to catch me, for success to this column is fatal to his dream of empire.  Richmond is not more vital to his cause than Columbia and the heart of South Carolina.

If Thomas will not move on Selma, order him to occupy Rome, Kingston, and Allatoona, and again threaten Georgia in the direction of Athena.

I think the “poor white trash” of the South are falling out of their ranks by sickness, desertion, and every available means; but there is a large class of vindictive Southerners who will fight to the last.  The squabbles in Richmond, the howls in Charleston, and the disintegration elsewhere, are all good omens for us; we must not relax one iota, but, on the contrary, pile up our efforts:  I world, ere this, have been off, but we had terrific rains, which caught us in motion, and nearly drowned some of the troops in the rice-fields of the Savannah, swept away our causeway (which had been carefully corduroyed), and made the swamps hereabout mere lakes of slimy mud.  The weather is now good, and I have the army on terra firma.  Supplies, too, came for a long time by daily driblets instead of in bulk; this is now all remedied, and I hope to start on Tuesday.

I will issue instructions to General Foster, based on the reenforcements of North Carolina; but if Schofield comes, you had better relieve Foster, who cannot take the field, and needs an operation on his leg.  Let Schofield take command, with his headquarters at Beaufort, North Carolina, and with orders to secure Goldsboro’ (with its railroad communication back to Beaufort and Wilmington).  If Lee lets us get that position, he is gone up.

I will start with my Atlanta army (sixty thousand), supplied as before, depending on the country for all food in excess of thirty days.  I will have less cattle on the hoof, but I hear of hogs, cows, and calves, in Barnwell and the Colombia districts.  Even here we have found some forage.  Of course, the enemy will carry off and destroy some forage, but I will burn the houses where the people burn their forage, and they will get tired of it.