DOCUMENT: U.S. GRANT

April 4, 1864 General: It is my design, if the enemy keep quiet and allowme to take the initiative in the spring campaign, to work allparts of the army together, and somewhat toward a common centre.For your information I now write you my programme, as at presentdetermined upon. I have sent orders to Banks, by private messenger, to finishup his present expedition against Shreveport with all dispatch;to turn over the defense of Red River to General Steele andthe navy, and to return your troops to you, and his own to NewOrleans; to abandon all of Texas, except the Rio Grande, andto hold that with not to exceed four thousand men; to reducethe number of troops on the Mississippi to the lowest numbernecessary to hold it, and to collect from his command not lessthan twenty-five thousand men. To this I will add five thousandfrom Missouri. With this force he is to commence operationsagainst Mobile as soon as he can. It will be impossible forhim to commence too early. Gillmore joins Butler with ten thousand men, and the two operateagainst Richmond from the south side of James River. This willgive Butler thirty-three thousand men to operate with, W. F.Smith commanding the right wing of his forces, and Gillmorethe left wing. I will stay with the Army of the Potomac, increasedby Burnside's corps of not less than twenty-five thousand effectivemen, and operate directly against Lee's army, wherever it maybe found. Sigel collects all his available force in two columns, one,under Ord and Averill, to start from Beverly, Virginia, andthe other, under Crook, to start from Charleston, on the Kanawha,to move against the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad. Crook will have all cavalry, and will endeavor to get in aboutSaltville, and move east from there to join Ord. His force willbe all cavalry, while Ord will have from ten to twelve thousandmen of all arms. You I propose to move against Johnston's army, to break itup, and to get into the interior of the enemy's country as faras you can, inflicting all the damage you can against theirwar resources. I do not propose to lay down for you a plan of campaign, butsimply to lay down the work it is desirable to have done, andleave you free to execute it in your own way. Submit to me,however, as early as you can, your plan of operations. As stated, Banks is ordered to commence operations as soonas he can. Gillmore is ordered to report at Fortress Monroeby the 18th inst., or as soon thereafter as practicable. Sigelis concentrating now. None will move from their places of rendezvousuntil I direct, except Banks. I want to be ready to move bythe 25th inst., if possible; but all I can now direct is thatyou get ready as soon as possible. I know you will have difficultiesto encounter in getting through the mountains to where suppliesare abundant, but I believe you will accomplish it. From the expedition from the Department of West Virginia Ido not calculate on very great results; but it is the only wayI can take troops from there. With the long line of railroadSigel has to protect, he can spare no troops, except to movedirectly to his front. In this way he must get through to inflictgreat damage on the enemy, or the enemy must detach from oneof his armies a large force to prevent it. In other words, ifSigel can't skin himself, he can hold a leg while some one elseskins. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, U.S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. . . . April 19, 1864 What I now want more particularly to say is, that if the twomain attacks, yours and the one from here, should promise greatsuccess, the enemy may, in a fit of desperation, abandon onepart of their line of defense, and throw their whole strengthupon the other, believing a single defeat without any victoryto sustain them better than a defeat all along their line, andhoping too, at the same time, that the army, meeting with noresistance, will rest perfectly satisfied with their laurels,having penetrated to a given point south, thereby enabling themto throw their force first upon one and then on the other. U.S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. Source: William T. Sherman, Memoirs of General WilliamT. Sherman, 2 vol. (1875).