Litchfield enquirer., 1866-02-15
REPORT OF LIEUT.-GENERAL IT 6 GRANT
(Continued.)

(Continued)
 Among the important fruits of this cam paign was the fall of Charleston, South Carolina. It was evacuated by the enemy on the nj ,ht of the l7th of February, and occu pied by our forces on the 18th. 1 On the morning of the 3lst of January General Thomas was directed to Send cavalry expedition under General Stoneman from East Tennessee, to penetrate South Carolina well down towards Columbia, to destroy tha railroads and military resources of the coun- try, and return, if he was able, to East Ten nessee, by way of Salisbury, North Carolina, releasing our prisoners there, if possible. Of the feasibility of this latter, however, General Stoneman was to judge sherman's move ments. had no doubt, would attract the at l tention of all the force the enemy could col lect, and facilitate the execution of this. Gen eral Stoneman was so late in making his start on this expedition, land Sherman having passed out of the State of South Carolina on the 27th of February directed General Thomas to change his course, and ordered him to repeat his raid of last fall destroying the railroad towards Lynchburgh as far as he could. This would keep him between Our garrisons in East Tennessee and the enemy regarded it not impossible that in the event of the enemy being driven from Richmond he mi ght fall back to Lynchburg aud attempt raid north through East Tennessee. On the l4th of February the following communica- ton was sent to General Thomas:
 "CITY POINT, VA, Feb. IA, 1865.
 "General Canby is preparing movement from Mobile bay against Mobile and the inte- rior of Alabama. His force will consist of about 20 900 men, besides A. J. Smiths con- mand. The cavalry you have sent to Canby will be debarked at Vicksburg. It, with the available cavalry already in that section. will move from there eastward in cooperation Hoods army has been terribly reduced by the severe punishment you gave it in Tennessee, by desertion consequent upon their defeat, and now by the withdrawal of many of them to oppose Sherman. q take it large portion of the infantry has been SO withdrawn. It is so asserted in the Richmond papers, and member of the rebel Congress said few days since in speech, that one-half of it had been i brought to South Carolina to oppose Sher- 1 Haa.) This being true. or even if it is not true Canby's movement will attract all the attention of the enemy, and leave the advance from your standpoint easy. think it advisa- ble, therefore that you prepare as much of a cavalry force as you can spare, and hold it in readiness to go south. The object would be three fold |: frst, to attract as much of the en- emy's force as possible to insure success to Canby; second, to destroy the enemy's line of communications and military resources third, to destroy or capture their forces brought into the field. Tuscaloosa and Selma would prob ably be the points to direct the expedition against. This, however, would hot be so i'm. portant as the mere fact of penetrating deep into Alabama. Discretion should be left to the officer commanding the expedition to go where, according to the information he may receive, he will best secure ths objects named above.
 "Now that your force has been so much de- pleted, do not know what number of men you can put into the field. If not more than 5000 men, however, all cavalry, think it will be sufficient. It is not desirable that you should start this expedition until the one leav- ing Vicksburg has been three or four days out, or even week. do not know when it will start, but will inform you by telegraph as soon as learn. If you should hear through other sources before hearing from me, you can act on the information received
 "l'o insure success your cavalry should go with as little wagon train as possible, relying upon the country for supplies. would also reduce the number of guns to a battery, or the number of batteries, and put the extra teams to the guns taken. No guns or caissons should be taken with less than eight horses. "rlease inform me by telegraph, on receipt of this, what force you think you will be able to send under these directions.
 "U. s. GRANT, Lieutenant General Major General G. H. THOMAS"
 On the 18th he was directed to start the ex- petition as soon after the 2Oth as he could get it off:
 Ideemed it of the utmost importance, be- fore general movement of the armies opera ting against Richmond, that all communica- tions with the city, north of James river, should be cut of. The enemy having with. drawn the bulk of his force from the Shenan- dcah valley and sent it south, or replaced troops sent from Richmond, and desiring to re-enfor ce Sherman, if practicable, whose cavalry was greatly inferior to that of the enemy, determined to make move from the Shenandoah, which if successful, would accomplish the first at least, and possibly the. latter of these objects. therefore telegraph ed General Sheridan as follows
 "C1rY POINT, VA, February2O, 1s65-lp.m.
 "GENERAL As soon as it is possible I think you will have no difficulty about reach ing Lynchburgh with cavalry force alone.- T., Ah.-o ro,, oonld daotrnv tho ro:l,ooa