Knowing the difficulty Sherman would have to supply himself from Memphis, I had previously ordered supplies sent from St.Louis on small steamers, to be convoyed by the navy, to meet him at Eastport.

These he got.

I now ordered him to discontinue his work of repairing roads and to move on with his whole force to Stevenson, Alabama, without delay.

This order was borne to Sherman by a messenger, who paddled down the Tennessee in a canoe and floated over Muscle Shoals; it was delivered at Iuka on the 27th.

In this Sherman was notified that the rebels were moving a force towards Cleveland, East Tennessee, and might be going to Nashville, in which event his troops were in the best position to beat them there.