In weighing all these considerations in my mind, I fixed upon Captain James W.Forsyth, of the Eighteenth Infantry, then in the regular brigade at Chattanooga--a dear friend of mine, who had served in the Army of the Potomac, in the Peninsula and Antietam campaigns.

He at once expressed a desire to accept a position on my staff, and having obtained by the next day the necessary authority, he and I started for Washington, accompanied by Lieutenant T.W.

C.Moore, one of my aides, leaving behind Lieutenant M.V.Sheridan, my other aide, to forward our horses as soon as they should be sent down to Chattanooga from Loudon, after which he was to join me..