[159] reasonably certain. Moreover, circumstances may be such by the time that your spare forces reach Port Hudson or New Orleans as to require their services west of the Mississippi. If so, the latter part of the plan would be somewhat varied, or its execution delayed.H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief.
The communication of the Assistant Secretary which presented the matter at greater length, shows that the question of putting General W. F. Smith in command of the Army of the Potomac had been thoroughly discussed, and Grant, the President, the Secretary of War, and General Halleck agreed that it would be better to select Smith than General Sherman:
I have had detailed conversations with the President, the Secretary of War, and General Halleck, with respect to your project of a campaign in Alabama. It meets the full approval of them all in every respect, not only because it keeps your army active during the otherwise useless weather of the Winter, but because it appears to them well conceived and as certain of producing the desired effect as any plan can be. ‘If it succeed’ said the Secretary of War, ‘Bragg's army become prisoners of war without our having the trouble of providing for them.’ You would be authorized to proceed immediately with its execution but for the anxiety which seems to exist respecting East Tennessee. If Longstreet were expelled from that country, you could stars for Mobile at once; I suppose General Halleck will communicate with you fully on this subject. I judge from my conversation with him that he does not understand clearly how an army, large enough to make Longstreet's dislodgment certain, can be supplied while operating against Rogersville and Bristol, and accordingly I presume that, first, as soon as it is settled that he must be left in that region, you will be allowed to proceed south with the main body of your forces, leaving, of course, a sufficient number of troops to observe Longstreet, and prevent his getting hold of Knoxville, Cumberland Gap, or any other controlling point now in our hands.To my suggestion that the surest means of getting the rebels altogether out of East Tennesseee is to be found in the Army of the Potomac; the reply is, that that is true, but from that army nothing is to be hoped under its present commander. This naturally led to your second proposition, namely, that either Sherman or W. F. Smith should be put in command of that army. To this the answer is such as to leave but little doubt in my mind that the second of these officers will be appointed to that post. Both the Secretary of War and General Halleck said to me that, as long as a fortnight before my arrival, they had come to the conclusion that when a change should be made,
