Civil War-dated ALS signed “U. S. Grant, Maj. Gen.,” one page, 7.75 x 9.75, December 22, 1862. Written from Oxford, Mississippi, a letter to Major General James McPherson, in full: “Start your command for the Tallahatchie so soon as all property from the Depot is removed and take position in the North banks of the stream. The bridges should be held and for this purpose one brigade should be left at Abbeville, besides most of the Cavalry.” In fine condition, with scattered light creasing.
A day earlier, Grant had received intel that Kirby Smith was crossing the Tennessee River and was possibly headed for Corinth. 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 Smith’s Tennessee Army was Mississippi-bound, Grant relays orders to McPherson in an urgent effort to protect the vital territory. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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