HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,
Saint Louis, March 6, 1862.

General BUELL, Nashville, Tenn.:

I cannot possibly leave here at the present time. Events are pressing on so rapidly that I must be all the time in telegraphic communication with Curtis, Grant, Pope, and Commodore Foote. We must consult by telegraph. News down the Tennessee that Beauregard has 20,000 men at Corinth and is rapidly fortifying it. Smith will not probably be strong enough to attack it. It is a great misfortune to lose that point. I shall re-enforce Smith as rapidly as possible. If you could send a division by water around into the Tennessee it would require only a small amount of transportation, as it would receive all its supplies by the river.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General.

NASHVILLE, TENN., March 6, 1862.

General McCLELLAN:

I am ashamed to speak again of the difficulty of crossing [an army] over two formidable rivers. Our troops came up faster than we could cross them, and we have forced ourselves here without transportation or baggage. This we could do when we could depend upon getting supplies at the end of our march, but not when we must carry them along. Johnston is at Shelbyville, some 25 miles south of Murfreesborough. The talk in his camp is that at Fayetteville, 20 miles farther south, they were to meet Beauregard, with 25,000 from Virginia and South Carolina, and then return against Nashville.

Garfield started after Marshall, but on the 22d, at Piketon, lost his supplies by high water, and had to stop for more. Marshall returned from Whitesburg through Sounding Gap when Garfield advanced, and has fortified, it is said, on the Cumberland Ridge.

It is important that Halleck and I should meet. I have proposed to do so at Louisville. We can both get there in twelve hours. Can you meet us there? If yes, name a time.

I have been concerned to hear that it is proposed to organize a provisional government for Tennessee. I think it would be injudicious at this time. It may not be necessary at all.

D. C. BUELL.

FORT HENRY, March 6, 1862.

Major-General HALLECK:

Union City is said to be garrisoned by rebels. I will keep a lookout to prevent surprise from that direction while the garrison is weak here.

U. S. GRANT,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,
Saint Louis, March 6, 1862.

Brigadier-General CULLUM, Cairo:

If it be true, as reported, that there is a strong rebel force at Union City, it seems to me that the garrison is not safe. Could not a gunboat