IUKA, October 24, 1863.

General HURLBUT:

Send me a field report of your corps, stations, strength for duty-especially at Columbus. Could we raise 1,000 men at Columbus to sweep down the country to Grand Junction, living on the country, gathering horses, mules, &c.? Gunboats will now make the Tennessee impassable to anybody from the east.

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS SIXTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Memphis, Tennessee, October 24, 1863.

Major General WILLIAM T. SHERMAN,

Iuka, Miss.:

The corps field report for October 20 will be sent you on Monday.

I propose to send Hurst's (Sixth Tennessee) cavalry to Jackson and thereabouts, Hawkins' (Seventh Tennessee) to Union City to recruit, and then move down from Columbus with about 7509 good cavalry-Fourth Missouri and Second Illinois-and clear that country.

Smith's force at Columbus is small; not more than enough to reach to Trenton.

S. A. HURLBUT,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,
Iuka, October 24, 1863.

Major General J. B. McPHERSON,

Commanding Seventeenth Army Corps, Vicksburg:

DEAR GENERAL: Young Dunn has just come out from Memphis with dispatches from Grant, announcing all the changes. These catch us, as we had reason to anticipate, short-handed, but we must do our best. I shall leave you undisturbed. I regard the Yazoo as a kind of shield against the main river, and therefore Vicksburg should be held with the tenacity of life; also Haynes' Bluff. But as the enemy cannot bring artillery against you, make the earth-works as small and perfect as possible. The high point north of Vicksburg is a Gibraltar-one similar south, and a citadel at the old tower.

I don't see the use of a force at Natchez; the enemy has drawn from the place every man that is worth a cent to them as a soldier, and the buildings and property of the place is security for the good behavior of the people; that is, a threat to destroy Natchez and valuable plantations there will prevent any molestation of the river, which is the grand desideratum.

I would not advise that a division should be kept at Natchez, but a white regiment, and, say, two negro regiments well intrenched, commanding with heavy guns the water and city. A similar garrison for Haynes' Bluff. The balance of your corps could be held well in hand, ready to embark in whole or part whenever an enemy threatens to interfere with the river.

The general impression here is that all the infantry, except Loring's division, is gone out of Mississippi, and that Stephen D. Lee's