GENERAL ORDERS,
WAR DEPT., ADJT. GENERAL'S OFFICE,

No.-. Washington, D. C., December 9, 1864.

In accordance with the following dispatch from Lieutenant-General Grant, viz-

Please telegraph order relieving him (General Thomas) at once and placing Schofield in command. Thomas should be directed to turn over all dispatches received since the battle of Franklin to Schofield.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

The President orders:

I. That Major General J. M. Schofield assume command of all troops in the Departments of the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Tennessee.

II. That Major General George H. Thomas report to General Schofield for duty and turn over to him all orders and dispatches received by him, as specified above.

By order of the Secretary of War:

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WASHINGTON, D. C, December 9, 1864-10.30 a.m.

Major-General THOMAS,

Nashville, Tenn.:

General Grant expresses much dissatisfaction at your delay in attacking the enemy. If you wait till General Wilson mounts all his cavalry, you will wait till doomsday, for the waste equals the supply. Moreover, you will soon be in same condition that Rosecrans was last year-with so man animals that you cannot feed them. Reports already come in of a scarcity of forage.

H. W. HALLECK,

Major-General and Chief of Staff.

NASHVILLE, TENN., December 9, 1864-2 p.m.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Washington, D. C.:

Your dispatch of 10.30 a.m. this date is received. I regret that General Grant should feel dissatisfaction at my delay in attacking the enemy. I feel conscious that I have done everything in my power to prepare, and that the troops could not have been gotten ready before this, and if he should order me to be relieved I will submit without a murmur. A terrible storm of freezing rain has come on since daylight, which will render an attack impossible until it breaks.

GEO. H. THOMAS,

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

NASHVILLE, TENN., December 9, 1864-9.30 p.m.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Washington, D. C.:

There is no perceptible change in the appearance of the enemy's lines to-day. Have heard from Cumberland River, between Harpeth and Clarksville, and there are no indications of any preparations on the part of the enemy to cross. The storm still continues.

GEO. H. THOMAS,

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