General McPherson having been assigned to the command of a department, could not General Frank Blair, without difficulty or detriment to the service, be assigned to command the corps he commanded a while last autumn?
NASHVILLE, TENN., _March 16, 1864--10 a.m._
General Logan commands the corps referred to in your dispatch. I will see General Sherman in a few days and consult him about the transfer, and answer.
General Sherman is here. He consents to the transfer of General Logan to the Seventeenth Corps and the appointment of General F.P. Blair to the Fifteenth Corps.
I understand by the papers that it is contemplated to make a change of commanders of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, so as to transfer me to the Seventeenth. I hope this will not be done. I fully understand the organization of the Fifteenth Corps now, of which I have labored to complete the organization this winter. Earnestly hope that the change may not be made.
The following telegram received at Washington 9 a.m. March 31, 1864, from Culpeper Court-House, 11.30 p.m., dated March 30, 1864:
"General F.P. Blair will be assigned to the Seventeenth (17th) Corps, and not the Fifteenth (15th). Assign General Joseph Hooker, subject to the approval of the President, to any other corps command you may have, and break up the anomaly of one general commanding two (2) corps.
From a long dispatch of April 2, 1864, from General Sherman to General Grant, presenting his plan for disposing the forces under his command, the following extracts, being the only parts pertinent to the subject now under consideration, are taken:
After a full consultation with all my army commanders, I have settled down to the following conclusions, to which I would like to have the President's consent before I make the orders:
Third. General McPherson. * * * His [three] corps to be commanded by Major-Generals Logan, Blair, and Dodge. * *
*OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH, _War Department_.
The following telegram received at Washington 3 p.m. April 10, 1864, from Culpeper Court-House, Va., 10 p.m., dated April 9, 1864:
"Will you please ascertain if General F.P. Blair is to be sent to General Sherman. If not, an army-corps commander will have to be named for the Fifteenth Corps.