ry hasty and random letter, simply to let
you know that I believe you still remember me. Whilst writing I am
carrying on a conversation with my Staff and others.

Julia will be with you in a few days and possibly I may accompany her.
This is barely possible, depending upon having full possession of the
line from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson, and upon being able to quit for
a few days without retarding any contemplated movement. This would not
leave me free more than one day however.

You have no conception of the amount of labor I have to perform. An
army of men all helpless, looking to the commanding officer for every
supply. Your plain brother, however, has as yet no reason to feel
himself unequal to the task, and fully believes that he will carry on
a successful campaign against our rebel enemy. I do not speak
boastfully but utter a presentiment. The scare and fright of the
rebels up here is beyond conception. Twenty three miles above here
some were drowned in their haste to retreat, thinking us such vandals
that neither life nor property would be respected. G.J. Pillow
commands at Fort Donelson. I hope to give him a tug before you receive
this.

U.S.G.

[After the fall of Fort Donelson Grant was promoted to the grade of
major-general. Had this victory been immediately followed up, he
believed that the entire southwest would have offered little
resistance; and had there been one general who would have taken the
responsibility and been in command of all the troops west of the
Alleghanies, the duration of the war would have been far briefer than
it was.

Corinth was the junction of the two most important railroads in the
Mississippi Valley. It was the great strategic position in the West
between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers, and between Nashville
and Vicksburg. If the Union troops obtained possession of Corinth the
Confederates would have no railroad for transportation of armies or
supplies until that running east from Vicksburg was reached.

The enemy was in force at Corinth, March 17th. He attacked Shiloh,
April 6th, was defeated April 7th, and evacuated Corinth May 30th.

Up to this time, Grant had believed that the rebellion would suddenly
collapse if a decisive victory could be gained. Donelson and Henry
were such victories, but now that the Confederates had collected new
armies and assumed the offensive, he gave up all idea of saving the
Union except by complete conquest. Hitherto, he had pr