HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
Nashville, Tenn., April 8, 1864.

General BRAYMAN,

Cairo:

Send word to General A. J. Smith, at Vicksburg, to reach him before he attempts the Yazoo expedition, that the will not attempt to come across by Grenada and Decatur, but that he will come to Huntsville, Ala., as expeditiously as possible, by Cairo and Paducah, up Tennessee River to Clifton, and march to Huntsville. Written orders will come by to-morrow's mal, but you can send this by a special courier to General Hurlbut and commanding officer at Vicksburg.

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
Nashville, Tenn., April 8, 1864.

General A. J. SMITH,

Commanding Red River Expedition, Vicksburg, en route:

GENERAL: Changes in circumstances render it better that your entire division and command should come by water via Cairo, paducah, and up the Tennessee via Clifton. You need not therefore attempt the march to Grenada and across by land, by come in your boats by the route via Cairo. Copies of this will be sent to Generals McPherson, Hurlbut, and commanding officers at Cairo and Paducah.

one cause of this change is that General Veatch, instead of occupying Purdy, came away, and I had no notice of his coming till we heard of his troops at Florence.

I am, &c.,

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General, Commanding.

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT AND ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,
Huntsville, Ala., April 8, 1864.

Major General W. T. SHERMAN,

Commanding Mil. Div. of the Mississippi, Nashville, Tenn.:

GENERAL: I am just in receipt of General Orders, Numbers 5, from your headquarter, and your letter of the 6th instant.

I think the assignment of Major-General Slocum to the command of the District of Vicksburg and excellent arrangement, but how is it going to affect General Hurlbut? Slocum ranks him, although General H, commands the Sixteenth Corps by order of the President. The troops in the District of Vicksburg, however, belong to the Seventeenth Army Corps. I thought as soon as A. J. Smith's command arrived here, and the army for the field was thoroughly organized, that I would make some transfers, so as to have the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps here and the Sixteenth on the Mississippi River, and let the Sixteenth embrace all the troops from Cairo down to the Department of the Gulf. It is not absolutely necessary, but will simplify matters very much in the way of making out returns, reports, &c.