of the Fourth Corps (Major-General Gordon Granger).
General Granger, as usual, was full of complaints
at the treatment of his corps since I had left him
with General Burnside, at Knoxville, the preceding
November; and he stated to me personally that he had
a leave of absence in his pocket, of which he intended
to take advantage very soon. About the end of
March, therefore, the three army commanders and myself
were together at Chattanooga. We had nothing
like a council of war, but conversed freely and frankly
on all matters of interest then in progress or impending.
We all knew that, as soon as the spring was fairly
open, we should have to move directly against our antagonist,
General Jos. E. Johnston, then securely intrenched
at Dalton, thirty miles distant; and the purpose of
our conference at the time was to ascertain our own
resources, and to distribute to each part of the army
its appropriate share of work. We discussed every
possible contingency likely to arise, and I simply
instructed each army commander to make immediate preparations
for a hard campaign, regulating the distribution of
supplies that were coming up by rail from Nashville
as equitably as possible. We also agreed on some
subordinate changes in the organization of the three
separate armies which were destined to take the field;
among which was the consolidation of the Eleventh
and Twelfth Corps (Howard and Slocum) into a single
corps, to be commanded by General Jos. Hooker.
General Howard was to be transferred to the Fourth
Corps, vice Gordon Granger to avail himself of his
leave of absence; and General Slocum was to be ordered
down the Mississippi River, to command the District
of Vicksburg. These changes required the consent
of the President, and were all in due time approved.
The great question of the campaign was one of supplies.
Nashville, our chief depot, was itself partially
in a hostile country, and even the routes of supply
from Louisville to Nashville by rail, and by way of
the Cumberland River, had to be guarded. Chattanooga
(our starting-point) was one hundred and thirty-six
miles in front of Nashville, and every foot of the
way, especially the many bridges, trestles, and culverts,
had to be strongly guarded against the acts of a local
hostile population and of the enemy’s cavalry.
Then, of course, as we advanced into Georgia, it was
manifest that we should have to repair the railroad,
use it, and guard it likewise: General Thomas’s
army was much the largest of the three, was best provided,
and contained the best corps of engineers, railroad
managers, and repair parties, as well as the best body
of spies and provost-marshals. On him we were
therefore compelled in a great measure to rely for
these most useful branches of service. He had
so long exercised absolute command and control over
the railroads in his department, that the other armies
were jealous, and these thought the Army of the Cumberland
got the lion’s share of the supplies and other