445 Series I Volume XLI-III Serial 85 - Price's Missouri Expedition Part III
| Page 445 | Chapter LIII. CORRESPONDENCE,ETC.-UNION. |
SAINT LOUIS, MO., September 28, 1864.
Major General A. J. SMITH,
De Soto:
If you are satisfied the enemy is in superior numbers before you, he will probably threaten you and turn your left flank, you will have nothing to gain by staying at De Soto. Return to the crossing of the Meramec, keeping your cavalry to the front, the heaviest part on the Hillsborough road. One bridge kept on train will answer to maneuver with. Secure the bridges over the Meramec, on the rail and wagon roads; let the cavalry move; detail wagons this side of the Meramec, and strike the enemy's scouts with heavy force. Let me know what to think of it.
W. S. ROSECRANS,
Major-General.
DE SOTO, September 28, 1864-8.15 p. m.
Major-General ROSECRANS:
Do I understood your telegram correctly to say I will march two of my brigades of infantry by land and send one brigade with the cars?
A. J. SMITH,
Major-General.
SAINT LOUIS, September 28, 1864-8.30 p.m.
Major General A. J. SMITH,
Commanding, &c.:
The general says that unless telegrapher made a mistake in order you will find the idea was to move by train. Yan can, however, use your discretion. What do you really think of the enemy's force advancing on you while attacking Girardeau?
FRANK S. BOND,
Major and Aide-de-Camp.
DE SOTO, September 28, 1864-11 p. m.
Major-General ROSECRANS:
This point if of no importance to hold now that the enemy is north of us. I do not think from all that I can learn of the force of the enemy in my immediate front that they are in sufficient force to cause me to fall back. I have no land transportation here. If I had I would rather advance than fall back, but to remain any longer here would sacrifice all the rolling-stock of this road I have with me. I must see if safe across the Meramec, and will therefore fall back to the river. I hope it will be the last time I ever go soldiering on railroad.
A. J. SMITH.
SAINT LOUIS, September 28, 1864-11.50 p. m.
Major-General SMITH,
De Soto:
Your views are in accordance with those of my last dispatches. One brigade with a train on this side of the Meramec will suffice, with a proper use of the cavalry to secure the brigades at and near the mouth
| Page 445 | Chapter LIII. CORRESPONDENCE,ETC.-UNION. |
- Confederate President Jefferson Davis calls for March 27 to be a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer.
- Following the Underground Railroad Route By Bicycle
- March is Women's History Month! Read the fascinating accounts of women spies hiding coded messages in women's hair, conductors of the Underground Railroad, soldiers disguised as men, surgeons, and advisors to the President!
- Teachers tackle race, economic disparity and history
- The President's Hymn: 'Give Thanks All Ye People'
- Thanksgiving Day during the Civil War
- Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation in a divided time: ‘one heart and one voice by the whole American People’
- What Abraham Lincoln found reading the Book of Job amid civil war
- Civil War stories on display at Lincoln Highway museum in Unity
- Who was Henry Benning, for whom Fort Benning in Columbus was named?
- Fort Gordon Army Base: Who was John Brown Gordon?
- From the Civil War to the football field, we have been celebrating the wrong values
- History and Healing: Removing Controversial Artifacts from the Civic Landscape
- How to Reframe the Civil War in the Classroom
- Man scores Abraham Lincoln autograph in box of trading cards
- Native Americans' role in the Civil War
- Abraham Lincoln Healed a Divided Nation. We Should Heed His Words Today.
- An escaped slave was the 'Florence Nightingale’ of Indiana's Civil War regiment
- A Southern Democrat survived impeachment trap and came to be in charge of Reconstruction
- New Statue Unveiled In Response To Richmond's Confederate Monuments