William T. Sherman to C. B. Comstock, August 14, 1863

Capt. C. B. Comstock, Chief Engineer, Department of the Tennessee: Captain Jenney has just shown me your dispatch. The pontoon train will be immediately started for Vicksburg. The men who have been overhauling it are not engineer troops, They are simply soldiers who have been detailed out of companies and belong to one of my divisions, and should never be separated from their regiments. They know no more about laying the pontoons than any other soldiers, and if detached now will be lost to their proper division. Lochbihler’s company of engineer troops, which we left in Vicksburg, always laid the pontoons. Any other division squad of pioneers are as well qualified to manage this train as the one now overhauling it. I therefore ask that the train be sent to Vicksburg and Natchez, to be managed by the division that is to use it.

W. T. SHERMAN,