OXFORD, December 9, 1862.

General SULLIVAN:

The army now having penetrated far into Mississippi, trade may be resumed in Tennessee, subject only to Treasury restrictions and such other restrictions as local commander may deem necessary to preserve good order and discipline.

U. S. GRANT,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS RIGHT WING,
College Hill, December 9, 1862.

General GRANT,

Commanding Thirteenth Army Corps, Oxford:

DEAR GENERAL: Colonel Grierson is about to start for Helena with your dispatches, and I also toward Memphis. When he returns he will report to you in person. Colonel Grierson has been with me all summer and I have repeatedly written to you and spoken in his praise. He is the best cavalry officer I have yet had. I commend him specially to your consideration. He has already had assigned to him a brigade, but the cavalry has been so busy that he has not yet had his command. I ask for him anything you can do for his benefit and the good of the service. I know that you will soon appreciate his merits.

Yours, truly,

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General.

SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS,
HDQRS. ARMY IN THE FIELD,

Numbers 18.
Oxford, Miss., December 9, 1862.

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II. The division commanded by Brigadier-General Denver, to be known as the First Division, is hereby assigned to the command of Major-General McPherson.

III. Brigadier-General Lauman will move one brigade of his present command to a point convenient for water on the line of the railroad, and from 4 to 6 miles south of Abbeville, to guard the road from that point south; the other brigade to Waterford, to report to Colonel J. V. Du-Bois for further orders.

These dispositions being made, General Lauman will relieve General McKean in command of the Fourth Division, and bring it to Oxford with as little delay as practicable.

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V. Women and children are hereafter to be excused from the army in the field. Wing commanders will see that all now with their respective commands are sent to Holle Springs or some point north of that place. Negro women and children and unemployed men will be sent to Chaplain J. Eaton, jr., superintendent of contrabands, Grand Junction, Tenn., who will provide for them. This is not intended to exclude authorized laundresses, hospital nurses, or officers' servants, of which wing and division commander are empowered to judge of the expediency of retaining.

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By order of Major General U. S. Grant:

[JNO. A. RAWLINS,]

Assistant Adjutant-General.