A. Schoepf to Ulysses S. Grant, January 11, 1862
Saint Louis, January 11, 1862.
Brig. Gen. U. S. GRANT, Cairo, Ill.:
I can hear nothing Gen Buell, so fix your own time for the advance. Three regiments will go down on Monday. H. W. HALLECK,
. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.âUNION. 545
ADJUTANT-GENERALâS OFFICE, Washington, January 11, 1862. Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, U. S. A., Saint Louis, Mo.: The following dispatch is from General Buell. Does it meet your views? Raw troops do not add much to our strength for active operations. Why not send
them into garrison at Cairo and Paducah, and let the older troops take the field, as the Confederates are doing? I refer to the Illinois regiments ordered here.
L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General
HEADQUARTERS, Somerset, Ky., January 11, 1862.
General GEORGE H. THOMAS, Commanding Division, near Columbia, Ky. : GENERAL: Yours of the 9th, by Captain Hall, was duly received. . You ask whether I consider the position of Zollicoffer impregnable in front. I would not like to say positively that such was the case; but I may safely say that to carry his position must be attended with heavy loss of life on our part.
There is no possible chance of maneuvering with infantry in front of his works, while artillery could be of no use, from the impossibility of securing any point from which it could be used to advantage, with an almost certainty of losing it in the event of our failing to carry the enemyâs works at the first onset. If it is deemed not best to cross the river, the next thing to be done is to find some accessible point on the west side of White Oak Creek from which our artillery could be brought to bear with force on his works, in the mean time crowding him in front and flank with our infantry. By this means we may draw him out for a field fight. The immediate occupancy by artillery of one or more suitable points on the river below Mill Springs, for the purpose of stopping his steamers, is a matter which in my opinion should not be overlooked, as, with the present condition of the roads, it is through this
_ channel that he must necessarily draw his supplies. I send you three men to-day who are acquainted with the country west of White Oak Creek, and who can be of service to you as you approach that line. Please keep me advised of your approach and plans, that I may act promptly and in concert with you. I am,
very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Brigadier-Generai, Commanding at Somerset. .