You may have some feeling about my asking that General Slocum should have command of the two corps that properly belong to you, viz., the Fourteenth and Twentieth, but you can recall that he was but a corps commander, and could not legally make orders of discharge, transfer, etc., which was imperatively necessary.  I therefore asked that General Slocum should be assigned to command “an army in the field,” called the Army of Georgia, composed of the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps.  The order is not yet made by the President, though I have recognized it because both, General Grant and the President have sanctioned it, and promised to have the order made.

My army is now here, pretty well clad and provided, divided into three parts, of two corps each—­much as our old Atlanta army was.

I expect to move on in a few days, and propose (if Lee remains in Richmond) to pass the Roanoke, and open communication with the Chowan and Norfolk.  This will bring me in direct communication with General Grant.

This is an admirable point—­country open, and the two railroads in good order back to Wilmington and Beaufort.  We have already brought up stores enough to fill our wagons, and only await some few articles, and the arrival of some men who are marching up from the coast, to be off.

General Grant explained to me his orders to you, which, of course, are all right.  You can make reports direct to Washington or to General Grant, but keep me advised occasionally of the general state of affairs, that I may know what is happening.  I must give my undivided attention to matters here.  You will hear from a thousand sources pretty fair accounts of our next march.  Yours truly,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

[LETTER FROM ADMIRAL DAHLGREN]

SOUTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON
FLAG-SHIP PHILADELPHIA, CHARLESTON, April 20, 1865

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding Armies of the Tennessee,
Georgia, and Mississippi.

Mr DEAR GENERAL:  I was much gratified by a sight of your handwriting, which has just reached me from Goldsboro’; it was very suggestive of a past to me, when these regions were the scene of your operations.

As you progressed through South Carolina, there was no manifestation of weakness or of an intention to abandon Charleston, until within a few hours of the fact.  On the 11th of February I was at Stono, and a spirited demonstration was made by General Schimmel-pfennig and the vessels.  He drove the rebels from their rifle-pits in front of the lines, extending from Fort Pringle, and pushed them vigorously.  The next day I was at Bull’s Bay, with a dozen steamers, among them the finest of the squadron.  General Potter had twelve to fifteen hundred men, the object being to carry out your views.  We made as much fuss as possible, and with better success than I anticipated, for it seems that the rebs conceived Stono to be a