but in his case, owing to his high standing, he had been permitted to hold these claims for collection, the responsible officials knowing that he would account to the “government” for every dollar received.  He said that his “government,” when it came in possession of all its territory, would hold him personally responsible for the claims he had surrendered to the provost-marshal.  His impudence was so sublime that I was rather amused than indignant.  I told him, however, that if he would remain in Memphis I did not believe the Confederate government would ever molest him.  He left, no doubt, as much amazed at my assurance as I was at the brazenness of his request.

On the 11th of July General Halleck received telegraphic orders appointing him to the command of all the armies, with headquarters in Washington.  His instructions pressed him to proceed to his new field of duty with as little delay as was consistent with the safety and interests of his previous command.  I was next in rank, and he telegraphed me the same day to report at department headquarters at Corinth.  I was not informed by the dispatch that my chief had been ordered to a different field and did not know whether to move my headquarters or not.  I telegraphed asking if I was to take my staff with me, and received word in reply:  “This place will be your headquarters.  You can judge for yourself.”  I left Memphis for my new field without delay, and reached Corinth on the 15th of the month.  General Halleck remained until the 17th of July; but he was very uncommunicative, and gave me no information as to what I had been called to Corinth for.

When General Halleck left to assume the duties of general-in-chief I remained in command of the district of West Tennessee.  Practically I became a department commander, because no one was assigned to that position over me and I made my reports direct to the general-in-chief; but I was not assigned to the position of department commander until the 25th of October.  General Halleck while commanding the Department of the Mississippi had had control as far east as a line drawn from Chattanooga north.  My district only embraced West Tennessee and Kentucky west of the Cumberland River.  Buell, with the Army of the Ohio, had, as previously stated, been ordered east towards Chattanooga, with instructions to repair the Memphis and Charleston railroad as he advanced.  Troops had been sent north by Halleck along the line of the Mobile and Ohio railroad to put it in repair as far as Columbus.  Other troops were stationed on the railroad from Jackson, Tennessee, to Grand Junction, and still others on the road west to Memphis.

The remainder of the magnificent army of 120,000 men which entered Corinth on the 30th of May had now become so scattered that I was put entirely on the defensive in a territory whose population was hostile to the Union.  One of the first things I had to do was to construct fortifications at Corinth better suited to the garrison that could be spared to man them.  The structures that had been built during the months of May and June were left as monuments to the skill of the engineer, and others were constructed in a few days, plainer in design but suited to the command available to defend them.