to organize the troops and be ready as soon as possible after the arrival of the Fourth Corps to operate against Forrest in WEST Tennessee, and drive the enemy out of that portion of the State also. I shall be able to send General Sherman all the cavalry he needs and still have a good force left. I have not had from General Sherman a later dispatch than the one just given you of the 19th instant, but I have no doubt he is pursuing Hood, who I learn both from General Sherman and other sources is moving south. General Granger and Croxton report no alternation or change of position on the part of the enemy in their front.

GEO. H. THOMAS,

Major-General, U. S. Volunteers, Commanding.

NASHVILLE, TENN., October 21, 1864 - 10 p. m.

Major-General SHERMAN, Summerville, Ga., and Atlanta, Ga.:

Your dispatch of 10 a. m. 19th instant is just received. I have in Tennessee the Thirteenth Wisconsin, Eighteenth Michigan, Seventy- THIRD Indiana, One hundred and second Ohio, Seventy-fifth Pennsylvania, Eighty-THIRD Illinois, and One hundred and fifteenth Ohio, averaging each 250 men. These regiments are garrisoning block-houses on Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, on Tennessee and Alabama Railroad, on Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and the posts of Decatur, Huntsville, and Athens. I have also the garrison of Chattanooga, comprising five Indiana regiments, averaging about 200 men each; an organization composed of detachments of various Ohio regiments, numbering about 600 men; the Fourteenth and SIXTEENTH Regiments Colored Troops, about 1,000 strong, and the Regular Brigade on Lookout Mountain, about 1,200 strong. The Eighth Kentucky, Sixty-eighth Indiana, and FIFTY-eighth and Sixty-eighth New York, are at Bridgeport, the four regiments summing up about 1,000 men. The Twelfth and Thirteenth Regiments Colored Troops are on the Northwestern railroad, numbering 1,200 men. The Fifteenth and Seventeenth Regiments Colored Troops, about 1,200 strong, are guarding quartermaster and commissary depots at this post. The One hundredth Regiment U. S. Colored Troops, numbering about 600 men, at work on the fortifications of Nashville. Croxton's brigade of cavalry, about 1,200 strong, is patrolling the river from Decatur to Eastport. The Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Indiana Regiments of Cavalry, each regiment averaging 750, are stationed at Pulaski, Athens, and Huntsville. The Second, THIRD, Fourth, Fifth, Tenth, and Twelfth Regiments Tennessee Cavalry, stationed at Decatur, Pulaski, and on the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. The Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, about 1,000 strong, and detachments of Long's brigade, numbering 700 or 800 are temporarily at Columbia. All the cavalry is being mounted as rapidly as possible, and will be disposed of as you many direct. I wish, however, that you will leave with me all the cavalry except the 2,500 you wish me to send to General McCook, as I feel confident that I will be able to operate successfully against the enemy in WEST Tennessee with the Fourth Corps and a respectable body of cavalry. It will be necessary, however, to have a good force of cavalry and infantry to guard the railroad and the Tennessee River between Chattanooga and Eastport whilst I am absent with the Fourth Corps in WEST Tennessee. In addition to the force already enumerated, the following regiments (new) have already reported to me: The One hundred seventy-THIRD, One hundred and seventh- fourth, One hundred and seventy-fifth, One hundred and seventy- sixth, One hundred and