Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest to Gen. Johnston, 6 April 1864

"I am of the opinion that everything is being concentrated against General Lee and yourself."

Grant to Sherman, 4 April 1864

"You I propose to move against Johnston's army, to break it up, and to get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources."

Sherman to Grant, 10 April 1864

"I will not let side issues draw me off from your main plans in which I am to knock Jos. Johnston, and to do as much damage to the resources of the enemy as possible."

The Burnet House, Cincinnati

In mid-March 1864 Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman met in "Parlor A" of Cincinnati's Burnet House. They spread out their war maps and devised the strategy that resulted in the devastation of Georgia and South Carolina.
"Yonder began the campaign," Sherman was to say a quarter century later, standing before the hotel on the occasion of a visit to the Ohio city. "He was to go for Lee and I was to go for Joe Johnston. That was his plan. No routes prescribed.... It was the beginning of the end as Grant and I foresaw right here."
Parlor A became a shrine, of sorts, and for many years the Sons of Union Veterans held their meetings in it until around 1926, when the building was torn down for new development.