Thomas W. Sherman to On Board The Adelaide, March 26, 1862

Brig. Gen. LORENZO THOMAS,

Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. O.: i GENERAL: Your letter of the 6th instant* was not received until the

21st instant, and then through the hands of Flag-Officer DuPont. I had already been directed by Major-General McClellan to abstain from my preparations for the siege of Savannah and confine myself to Fernandina and the siege of Fort Pulaski. Your letter of the 6th recommends me to reduce Fort Pulaski in preference to attempting Savannah. In my letter of the 14th December last the Department will perceive that my plan was to carry on both at once. The essential

features of that plan I had not departed from, and have been very desirous of carrying out, particularly after the opportunity we discovered for taking Savannah by a coup de main failed for want of co-operation of the Navy, the particulars of which the Department has already been apprised of.

I humbly bow to the decisions of my superiors in Washington, but still, general, from the point here to view the subject, I cannot but regret that my plan could not have been carried out. I had every confidence in it, and believe it would have been executed with not so much sacrifice as the general seemed to imagine.

However, the preparations for the bombardment of Pulaski are being made as fast as the material arrives. The mortar and columbiad batteries are all constructed, mortars mounted, and all the shot and shell yet arrived in position. Wearestill waiting for the columbiad earriages and a considerable portion of the shot and shell. The work is of such a character, you are well aware, that we must be in a state of perfect preparation before opening fire.

It is hoped that we shall be permitted to get through this job early enough in the season to afford a pretty large force in the direction of Charleston, a nucleus from which, in the shape of two regiments, I have already forwarded on the North Edisto River.

The batteries on the mud flats of the Savannah River work like a charm, and, what is remarkable, our men there are in perfect health.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,