Bragg had completely driven Rosecrans’s army into Chattanooga; the latter was in actual danger of starvation, and the railroad to his rear seemed inadequate to his supply.  The first intimation which I got of this disaster was on the 22d of September, by an order from General Grant to dispatch one of my divisions immediately into Vicksburg, to go toward Chattanooga, and I designated the First, General Osterhaus—­Steele meantime having been appointed to the command of the Department of Arkansas, and had gone to Little Rock.  General Osterhaus marched the same day, and on the 23d I was summoned to Vicksburg in person, where General Grant showed me the alarming dispatches from General Halleck, which had been sent from Memphis by General Hurlbut, and said, on further thought, that he would send me and my whole corps.  But, inasmuch as one division of McPherson’s corps (John E. Smith’s) had already started, he instructed me to leave one of my divisions on the Big Black, and to get the other two ready to follow at once.  I designated the Second, then commanded by Brigadier-General Giles A. Smith, and the Fourth, commanded by Brigadier-General Corse.

On the 25th I returned to my camp on Big Black, gave all the necessary orders for these divisions to move, and for the Third (Tittle’s) to remain, and went into Vicksburg with my family.  The last of my corps designed for this expedition started from camp on the 27th, reached Vicksburg the 28th, and were embarked on boats provided for them.  General Halleck’s dispatches dwelt upon the fact that General Rosecrans’s routes of supply were overtaxed, and that we should move from Memphis eastward, repairing railroads as we progressed, as far as Athens, Alabama, whence I was to report to General Rosecrans, at Chattanooga, by letter.

I took passage for myself and family in the steamer Atlantic, Captain Henry McDougall.  When the boat was ready to start, Willie was missing.  Mrs. Sherman supposed him to have been with me, whereas I supposed he was with her.  An officer of the Thirteenth went up to General McPherson’s house for him, and soon returned, with Captain Clift leading him, carrying in his hands a small double-barreled shot gun; and I joked him about carrying away captured property.  In a short time we got off.  As we all stood on the guards to look at our old camps at Young’s Point, I remarked that Willie was not well, and he admitted that he was sick.  His mother put him to bed, and consulted Dr. Roler, of the Fifty-fifth Illinois, who found symptoms of typhoid fever.  The river was low; we made slow progress till above Helena; and, as we approached Memphis, Dr. Roler told me that Willie’s life was in danger, and he was extremely anxious to reach Memphis for certain medicines and for consultation.  We arrived at Memphis on the 2d of October, carried Willie up to the Gayoso Hotel, and got the most experienced physician there, who acted with Dr. Roler, but he sank rapidly, and died the evening of the 3d of October.