Civil War-dated ALS, one page, 7.75 x 9.75, December 21, 1862. Letter to General James McPherson, in full: “It is now reported that Kirby Smith is crossing the Tennessee river and will probably attack Corinth. His direction or whereabouts I have not yet got but will probably learn more to–day. If he has not got too much start I do not know that I regret it as I feel certain that he can bring us force that we will not be able to compete with. You had better get to the North side of the Talahatchie with two divisions as rapidly as possible and leave the third in the vicinity of this place at least until directed to move it.” In fine condition, with a tear in the body of the letter which could be repaired.
Described as ‘the vertebrae of the Confederacy,’ the town of Corinth was home to the east-west-running Memphis-Charleston and north-south-running Mobile-Ohio railroads, key mobilization lines which extended nearly the entire height and breadth of the South. In the aftermath of the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, a force of 120,000 Union soldiers drove out the Confederate occupants and allowed Grant to set up operations in the embattled crossroads town, relying on the young engineer James McPherson to serve as superintendent of the valuable rail junction. With word that a division of Kirby Smith’s Tennessee Army was Mississippi-bound, Grant’s letter displays the appropriate amount of worry given Confederate General Earl Van Dorn’s siege a couple months prior. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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