CAIRO, April 27, 1864.

Major-General SHERMAN:

Have seen your dispatch of yesterday to General Brayman. Am waiting for transports and ammunition, which should have been here from Saint Louis yesterday. Think I can get off in the morning. Will not delay a moment.

W. Q. GRESHAM,

Brigadier-General.

CAIRO, April 27, 1864.

Major General W. T. SHERMAN:

Does your dispatch of yesterday to General Bryman include more than the command of General Gresham? The Twentieth, Thirty-first, and Forty-fifth Illinois, and Twentieth, Sixty-eighth, and Seventy-eighth Ohio have not yet returned. The Eighty-first, Ninety-fifth Illinois, and Fourteenth Wisconsin are on Red River expedition. I am doing all in my power to hasten the organization of division. Crocker's division in same condition as mine. Gresham expects to get off to-night. He has been delayed by quartermaster and ordnance officers at Saint Louis.

M. D. LEGGETT,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE,
Memphis, Tenn., April 27, 1864.

Major General J. B. McPHERSON,

Commanding Department of the Tennessee:

GENERAL: I avail myself of the opportunity offered by one of your staff to say that I arrived here and took command five days ago. I found the condition of matters here most deplorable, and the troops in wretched condition. The cavalry was all broken down, and less than 2,000 could be mounted. I have worked night and day since I came here to get the troops into some kind of shape to enable me to move after Forrest. He is still hovering round, 7,000 or 8,000 strong. I have sent to Vicksburg for cavalry, and the moment they arrive I shall send out a force that I am certain will whip him and drive him from the State. I have seized all the horses here, with which I shall mount the dismounted cavalry, and by this means and by the help from Vicksburg I hope to make a satisfactory campaign. I have only about 2,500 white infantry here, 2,000 of which I shall send out to support the cavalry. I shall move early Saturday morning. Brigadier-General Sturgis has arrived and will command the expedition.

I am, general, your obedient servant,

C. C. WASHBURN,

Major-General.

P. S.-What am I to understand my command to consist of? Are the troops at Cairo, Paducah, and Columbus under my orders, and, if not, what are the limits of the District of West Tennessee?