I send with this Brigadier-General J.M.Corse, to carry orders to General A.
J.Smith, and to give directions for a new movement, which is preliminary to the general campaign.

General Corse may see you and explain in full, but, lest he should not find you in person, I will simply state that Forrest, availing himself of the absence of our furloughed men and of the detachment with you, has pushed up between the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers, even to the Ohio.

He attacked Paducah, but got the worst of it, and he still lingers about the place.

I hope that he will remain thereabouts till General A.J.Smith can reach his destined point, but this I can hardly expect; yet I want him to reach by the Yazoo a position near Grenada, thence to operate against Forrest, after which to march across to Decatur, Alabama.

You will see that he has a big job, and therefore should start at once.