[Shortly after the date of the last letter, Grant was ordered to
Mexico, Mo. General Pope then commanded the district between the
Mississippi and Missouri Rivers with headquarters at Mexico. Grant was
assigned to command a sub-district embracing the troops of the
immediate neighborhood. In regard to the hospitality which Grant
mentions receiving in this secessionist district, we may note that the
regiments before his accession to this command had visited houses
without invitation and had helped themselves to food or had demanded
it. Grant at once published orders forbidding soldiers to go into
private houses unless invited, or to appropriate private property.]
Mexico, Mo.,
Aug. 3d, 1861.