HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Chattanooga, Tennessee, November 12, 1863.

Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:

I would respectfully recommend that Brig. Gen. W. F. Smith be placed first on the list for promotion to the rank of major-general. He is possessed of one of the clearest military heads in the army; is very practical and industrious. No man in the service is better qualified than he for our largest commands.

I have the honor,&c.,
U. S. GRANT,

Major-General.

CHATTANOOGA, November 12, 1863.

(Received 6 p.m.)

Major-General HALLECK, General-in-Chief:

Burnside seems to be firm in his position. Some troops threatening him from the west have fallen back. I am not certain that others have replaced them.

Sherman will be up in a few days, I will attempt to make enemy fall back to a respectfully distance. If two light-draught gunboats can be got above Muscle Shoals, or framed and brought to Decatur, and then put in the Tennessee River, such a store of forage and subsistence can be laid in this winter as to make this a secure base of operations for months, even with lines cut to the rear. Sherman reports hogs and stock abundant on Elk River. They are driven by Lamb's Ferry to Bragg's army. I have ordered cavalry there to collect it and bring it in for our use.

Could not Davidson, with his cavalry,* be spared to make a sweep through North Mississippi,and to the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and even into Alabama?

U. S. GRANT,

Major-General.

CHATTANOOGA, November 12, 1863.

Brig. General ROBERT ALLEN, Chief Q. M., Louisville, Ky.:

Your dispatch received. I have instructed General Hurlbut to take from West Tennessee and North Mississippi what horses and mules he requires. It is only a question between us and the guerrillas which will get them, and if [we] supply our deficiencies the rebels will buy them from our men at a trifle. All our troops, except at Corinth, are supplied by railroad, and cannot require a great number of wagons. Should wagons be required there they would go to Hamburg Landing. Send fifty wagons to Memphis, and I will inquire of Hurlbut if more is required at that point.

U. S. GRANT,

Major-General.

CHATTANOOGA, November 12, 1863.

Brig. General W. S. SMITH, Chief of Cavalry, Nashville:

On assuming the duties of chief of cavalry you will acquaint yourself as soon as possible with the organization, location, and condition of the different cavalry commands.

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*Then in Arkansas.

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