"
On the 30th of December Grant sent this message to Porter:
"Please hold on wherever you are for a few days, and I will
endeavor to be back again, with an increased force, _and without
the former commander."_
Grant at once took measures for renewing the attack and for
changing the commander. On the 31st of December the Secretary
of the Navy telegraphs to Porter: "Lieutenant-General Grant
will send immediately a competent force, _properly commanded,_
to cooperate in the capture of the defences of Federal Point."
So in every instance in which the head of the military or
naval department of this country issued an order to cooperate
in this expedition he found it necessary to assure the officer
to whom he gave his orders that the expedition would be properly
commanded. The Secretary adds in his dispatch to Admiral
Porter: "The Department is perfectly satisfied with your
efforts thus far." On the next day Porter writes to General
Grant: "I have just received yours of December 30th. I shall
be all ready; and thank God we are not to leave here with
so easy a victory at hand.
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