HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF SOUTHWEST MISSOURI,
Springfield, Mo., January 24, 1864

Major O. D. GREENE,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Dept. of the Missouri:

Colonel Crandall, who has all winter been operating in Northern Arkansas along the White River, is reported as having abandoned the Confederate cause and gone to Memphis. I am confident he has gone, and I think it would be well to call the attention of the commander of the post of Memphis to this important intelligence. He is more likely to have gone there and not abandoned the cause. I have no news from the troops operating in Arkansas. From this I infer that Mayes, Gunning, and Freeman have fallen back.

JOHN B. SANBORN,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF THE BORDER,
Kansas City, Mo., January 24, 1864.

Major General S. R. CURTIS:

GENERAL: If I am to command the District of the Border, please do not fix headquarters until I see you. I am decidedly of the opinion that there will be a revival of guerrilla warfare along that part of the border north of the Osage, requiring very close and careful attention on the part of the district commander, and requiring the service of a large portion of the troops of the district. If that anticipation is verified, Fort Scott will be too far south of the infested district for district headquarters, as Fort Leavenworth is too far north of it. I expect to be relieved here within a week.

I am, very respectfully, yours,

THOMAS EWING, JR.,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
New Orleans, January 25, 1864.

Major General W. T. SHERMAN,

Commanding Fifteenth Army Corps:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch of the 16th instant.* I have taken measures to give the impression of a movement against Mobile, and directed maneuvering of boats in the vicinity of Pascagoula in such a manner as to confirm this impression. The success of the movement indicated by you will be very important to our cause. I only regret that we had not been able to occupy Mobile at the close of the campaign against Vicksburg and Port Hudson. The course you have suggested in regard to the stoppage of our forage boats will be satisfactory. I do not doubt that with a knowledge of all the circumstances, all cause of complaint will be removed. The tone of the letter of the chief quartermaster is not such as I could wish or approve; but great embarrassments are occasioned to us by this interference with our boats, and has sometimes caused bad feeling.

Since receiving your dispatch General Halleck informs me that it is possible the forces on the west bank of the river in Arkansas and

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*See Vol. XXXII, Part II, p. 113.

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