WASHINGTON, November 7, 1863-10.30 a.m.

Maj. Gen. S. A. HURLBUT, Memphis, Tennessee:

General Grant has ordered Tuttle's division to remain with you till re-enforcements arrive from Steele. He is authorized to suspend all operations on the railroad and telegraph-line in West Tennessee. General Schofield is ordered to give you all the troops he possibly can from Missouri.

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

MEMPHIS, November 7, 1863-4 p.m. [Received 9th.]

Major-General GRANT:

In conformity with instructions from General Sherman, I this day abandon the line of railroad through to Corinth, holding only to Moscow with infantry and La Grange with cavalry. All troops from La Grange east are ordered to Corinth. This is compelled by the reduction of my infantry force, and the concentration of the enemy from Tuscumbia and Okolona on Corinth. There is abundance of rations and ammunition in Corinth, but no forage. Forage should be sent to Hamburg for 2,000 animals, and a gun-boat lie off that point as a means of communication. General Steele has not sent any troops, and I do not think he will, as up to his last report received to-day he had not been able to decipher Schofield's telegram. It is of positive necessity that a division should be added to this force. A bold attack from below by infantry and cavalry would lose this city and its stores. Ten thousand men would drive me into the forts and cause the destruction of the city.

If Tuttle's division can be stopped here it will be sufficient; if not, they must be furnished from some other command to control expected movements of the enemy on the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers. I have now no means of relieving Corinth if attacked in force, and the troops there must work out their own defense.

S. A. HURLBUT,

Major-General.

DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE, Corinth, November 7, 1863.

Major-General HURLBUT:

Mizner is with his command at Pocahontas. Will arrive here tonight or in the morning. I sent a scouting party to Iuka, and learn the enemy still adheres to east side of Bear Creek, with large scouting parties this side. A reliable scout just from Tupelo reports no demonstration of the enemy in this direction. Ferguson is northeast of Bay Springs.

The commands reported moving out from direction of Tupelo were commands of Ham and Inge to destroy railroad between Pocahontas and La Grange. They were met by scouts and were boasting of their success.

I think if Hurst's regiment were ordered to Middleton to hold

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