Let Schofield take command, with his headquarters at Beaufort, North Carolina, and with orders to secure Goldsboro' (with its railroad communication back to Beaufort and Wilmington).

If Lee lets us get that position, he is gone up.
I will start with my Atlanta army (sixty thousand), supplied as before, depending on the country for all food in excess of thirty days.

I will have less cattle on the hoof, but I hear of hogs, cows, and calves, in Barnwell and the Colombia districts.

Even here we have found some forage.

Of course, the enemy will carry off and destroy some forage, but I will burn the houses where the people burn their forage, and they will get tired of it.
I must risk Hood, and trust to you to hold Lee or be on his heels if he comes south.