mockery of war almost indefinitely 
What we want is commanders who will "quarter and subsist" on the enemy as much as posible and destroy crops, take their cattle & horses, drive their slaves north & compel the men in the field to come home & take care of their families 
this would be war & such as they could not stand sixty days, 
I conversed with one of the prisener we took at Pitman's Ferry freely on this subject
. I told him we held them at our mercy. the he knew that if we were determined on their destruction that in six weeks we could desolate the whole southwest 
he acknowledged that we could but "why dont you do it" But it is useless for me to speculate upon the destinies of this nation while it is playing war.  I would rather talk to you about our own home affairs 
What I have written you may read at your discretion to my friends the other leaf I will write to you
