Transcript (excerpt):
Cairo, November 8th 1861
Dear Father,
It is late at night and I want to get a letter into the mail for you before it closes. As I have just finished a very hasty letter to Julia that con-tains about what I would write, and having something else to do myself, I will have my clerk copy it on to this.
Day before yesterday, I left here with about 3000 men in five steamers, conveyed by two Gun Boats, and proceeded down the river to within twelve miles of Columbus. The next morning the Boats were dropped down just east of range of the enemies Batteries and the troops disembarked.
During this operation our Gun Boats exercised the rebels by throwing shells into their Camps and Battery….
Citation: Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), letter signed to Jesse Root Grant. Cairo, Ill., 8 November 1861. AMs 357/6