NASHVILLE, October 25, 1864 -8. 30 p. m.

Major-General SHERMAN:

I have reports this evening from General Granger that Hood, with his army, is moving down the Tennessee River by the way of Guntersville and Somerville. Have you any information tending to confirm my reports received?

GEO. H. THOMAS,

Major-General.

NASHVILLE, October 25, 1864 -9 p. m.

Major-General SHERMAN:

The following dispatch* has been received from General Halleck, which I forward for your information, and as a part of my report of force in Tennessee and expected to arrive:

The regiments mentioned in my dispatch+ to General Halleck are the following, which are now here: One hundred and seventy-THIRD, One hundred and seventy-fourth, One hundred and seventy-fifth, One hundred and seventy-sixth, One hundred and seventy-seventh, One hundred and seventy-eighth, One hundred and seventy-ninth, and One hundred and eightieth Ohio, the Forty-THIRD Wisconsin, Eleventh Minnesota, one-year regiments; the Twenty-ninth Michigan, a three- years' regiment. All of the above regiments are full, and will average a force of 16,000 men. About 4,000 drafted men, recruits, and convalescents have been sent to the front, and other are arriving and being sent forward daily.

Of cavalry I have Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Indiana Regiments (new), formerly belonging to Hovery's command. These regiments will aggregate 4,000, and are being mounted now. They can be exchanged for the old and exhausted regiments now with the army. The Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry and fragments of Long's brigade are now being mounted, and will be sent to the front as soon as possible. This force will number 1,500 men. I have also the Second, THIRD, Fourth, Fifth, Tenth, and Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry, aggregate strength about 1,800 (but little better than militia), and Croxton's brigade, of the First Cavalry DIVISION, composed of the First Tennessee, Second Michigan, Eighth Iowa, and Fourth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, aggregating about 1,200 good and reliable troops, which I should like to keep.

General Rousseau's infantry force is enumerated as follows: 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, Tennessee and Alabama, and Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and the posts of Decatur, Huntsville, and Athens. The Twelfth and Thirteenth (negroes), 1,200 strong, are on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. The Fifteenth and Seventeenth Colored Troops, 1,200 strong, are guarding quartermaster and commissary depots at this post. The One hundredth (negroes), about 600 strong, are at work on fortifications at Nashville. The Eighth Kentucky, Sixty-eighth Indiana, and FIFTY-eighth and Sixty-eighth New York Regiments, about 1,000 strong, are

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* See October 24, 2. 30 p. m., p. 423.

+ See October 23, 9. 30 p. m., p. 408.

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