40,000 men; of these, Sherman was to furnish 10,000, Banks 15,000, and Steele 15,000. Steele had already sent word that he could not be counted upon for more than 7,000, all told. He had expected to march from Little Rock by the 14th of March on Arkadelphia, there to be joined by Thayer moving at the same time from Fort Smith. Thayer marched on the 21st with 4,000 effectives and 14 guns, Steele on the 23d with 7,500 effectives and 16 guns; besides these, he left Clayton with 1,600 men and 11 guns to hold Pine Bluff. We have seen how, in one movement, three divergent ideas were being carried out without either having been distinctly decided on: a foothold in Texas, an overland occupation in force, and a swift raid by the river. To these there was now to be added a fourth idea, in itself sound, yet fatally inconsistent with the others. On the 27th of March, before setting out from Alexandria, Banks received, by special messenger, the orders of Lieutenant-General Grant, dated the 15th of March, on taking command of the armies of the United States. For the first time during the war, all the armies were to move as one, with a single purpose, ruled by a single will; along the whole line, from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, a combined movement was to take place early in May, and in this the entire effective force of the Department of the Gulf was to take part. A. J. Smith was to join the Army of the Tennessee for the Atlanta campaign, and Banks was to go against Mobile. Sherman had lent A. J. Smith to Banks for thirty days. This limit Grant was willing to extend by ten or fifteen days, but if Shreveport were not to be taken by that time--that is, by the 25th of April at the very latest,--then Banks was to send A. J. Smith's detachment back to Vicksburg in season to arrive there at the date originally named--that is, by the 10th of April,--even if this should lead to the abandonment of the expedition. The orders for the expedition given by Halleck, while occupying nominally the supreme command that had now in truth fallen into the strong hand of Grant, were not revoked; the expedition was to go on; only, to make sure that it should not be gone too long, it was to be put in irons.