The leave was granted, but not graciously.

I had known General Halleck but very slightly in the old army, not having met him either at West Point or during the Mexican war.
I was received with so little cordiality that I perhaps stated the object of my visit with less clearness than I might have done, and I had not uttered many sentences before I was cut short as if my plan was preposterous.

I returned to Cairo very much crestfallen.
Flag-officer Foote commanded the little fleet of gunboats then in the neighborhood of Cairo and, though in another branch of the service, was subject to the command of General Halleck.

He and I consulted freely upon military matters and he agreed with me perfectly as to the feasibility of the campaign up the Tennessee.

Notwithstanding the rebuff I had received from my immediate chief, I therefore, on the 28th of January, renewed the suggestion by telegraph that "if permitted, I could take and hold Fort Henry on the Tennessee." This time I was backed by Flag-officer Foote, who sent a similar dispatch.