Dispatch

Unknown to Ulysses S. Grant, August 2, 1862

August 2, 1862.

August 2, 1862. Major-General GRANT, Corinth:

No report from the front. General Morgan reports the Town Creek Bridge safe, and the command returned there.

General Davis reports a brisk trade in salt and other contraband goods going on from Pittsburg south through the region east of him. He has seized twelve barrels in transitu. It seems to me the provost-marshal and commanding officers at Pittsburg and Hamburg Landings should be held responsible for it. Patrols will be necessary to prevent unprincipled sutlers’ clerks and discharged soldiers from selling whatever they

please of contraband. W. S. ROSECRANS, Brigadier-General, U. 8. Army.

CoRINTH, August 3, 1862. Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLEOK:

Cadwalader has reported for duty here. Order directs him to report to you. Where shall he be assigned? The efficiency of this army is weakened by making commands for so many officers of high rank.

U. 8S. GRANT, Major-General.

ROSECRANS’ HEADQUARTERS, August 3, 1862. (Received Corinth, August 3, 1862.) Major-General GRANT: I have ordered Davis to send Mitchell’s brigade to Iuka to relieve Morgan’s command, thence to Bear Creek Bridge. Morgan’s troops go

to Tuscumbia; Davis to be ready to follow him with the remainder so soon as the news from Granger shall show what dispositions are advisable at the front. I have doubts if any operations in force will require support given to Morgan east, from the nature of the country south of Morgan’s line, which is generally hilly and poor. It is probable that column was a reconnoitering covering and designed to cut off the Union men from those hilly regions who were flocking to join us. W. S. ROSECRANS, Brigadier-General, U. S. Army.

Editor's Notes
From: Operations in West Tennessee and Mississippi, Pt. 1. Summary: Brigadier General Rosecrans reports contraband trade near Pittsburg Landing, urges stricter patrols, and discusses troop movements and command assignments with Major General Grant during the 1862 Mississippi campaign.
Sources
The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 17, Part 1 View original source ↗