and that Hood’s army would soon be there.  He asserted that the Yankee army would have to retreat or starve, and that the retreat would prove more disastrous than was that of Napoleon from Moscow.  He promised his Tennessee and Kentucky soldiers that their feet should soon tread their “native soil,” etc., etc.  He made no concealment of these vainglorious boasts, and thus gave us the full key to his future designs.  To be forewarned was to be forearmed, and I think we took full advantage of the occasion.

On the 26th I received this dispatch.

City point, Virginia,September 26,1864-10 a.m.

Major-General Sherman, Atlanta It will be better to drive Forrest out of Middle Tennessee as a first step, and do any thing else you may feel your force sufficient for.  When a movement is made on any part of the sea-coast, I will advise you.  If Hood goes to the Alabama line, will it not be impossible for him to subsist his army?  U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.

Answer: 

Headquarters military division of the Mississippi
in the field, Atlanta, Georgia, September 26, 1864.

General:  I have your dispatch of to-day.  I have already sent one division (Newton’s) to Chattanooga, and another (Corse’s) to Rome.

Our armies are much reduced, and if I send back any more, I will not be able to threaten Georgia much.  There are men enough to the rear to whip Forrest, but they are necessarily scattered to defend the roads.

Can you expedite the sending to Nashville of the recruits that are in Indiana and Ohio?  They could occupy the forts.

Hood is now on the West Point road, twenty-four miles south of this, and draws his supplies by that road.  Jefferson Davis is there to-day, and superhuman efforts will be made to break my road.

Forrest is now lieutenant-general, and commands all the enemy’s cavalry.

W. T. Sherman, Major-General.

General Grant first thought I was in error in supposing that Jeff.  Davis was at Macon and Palmetto, but on the 27th I received a printed copy of his speech made at Macon on the 22d, which was so significant that I ordered it to be telegraphed entire as far as Louisville, to be sent thence by mail to Washington, and on the same day received this dispatch: 

Washington, D. C., September 27, 1864-9 a.m. 
Major-General Sherman, Atlanta: 
You say Jeff Davis is on a visit to General Hood.  I judge that
Brown and Stephens are the objects of his visit. 
A. Lincoln, President of the United States.

To which I replied: 

Headquarters military division of the Mississippi
in the field, Atlanta, Georgia, September 28, 1864.