290

A FORWARD MOVEMENT CHECKED.

rations for an advance upon Corinth while Beauregard was comparatively weak and disheartened, not doubting that it would be ordered on the arrival of his chief. He had sent Sherman out in that direction with a body of cavalry on the day after the battle, who skirmished some with horsemen of Breckinridge's rear-guard and drove them, and who found a general hospital with nearly three hundred, sick and wounded in it. The roads, made miry by the recent rains, were strewn with abandoned articles of every kind, testifying to the precipitancy of the retreat. Sherman returned the same night, and was sent up the Tennessee, accompanied by the gun-boats as far as Eastport, to destroy the Memphis and Charleston railway over Big Bear Creek, between Iuka and Tuscumbia, and cut off Corinth from the latter place, where Colonel Turchin had large supplies. This expedition was arranged before Halleck arrived, and was successfully carried out, after which such demonstrations ceased for a while. No movement of importance was again made toward Corinth until about the first of May, when Monterey, nine or ten miles in that direction, was occupied by National troops. General Pope had arrived in the mean time," with the Army of Missouri, twentyfive thousand strong, and these, with some regiments from Curtis, in Arkansas, made Halleck's forces a little over one hundred thousand in number.

⚫ April 22,

1862.

General Mitchel, in the mean time, with his few troops and the cordial assistance of the negroes, who acted as spies and informers,' had been holding a hundred miles of the Memphis and Charleston railway, on Beauregard's most important flank, tightly in his grasp. Turchin held Tuscumbia,' at the western end of his line, until the 24th of April, when a Confederate force advanced from Corinth, for the purpose of seizing his stores (one hundred thousand rations, which had been sent to him by way of Florence), in such strength that he was compelled to fly; but he carried away the coveted property and fell back to Decatur, skirmishing on the way. He was yet hard pressed, so, burning a part of his provisions (forty thousand rations), he fled across the Tennessee River at Decatur, his rear-guard under Colonel Lytle firing the magnificent railway bridge that spanned the stream at that place.3 It was the only bridge over the Tennessee between Florence and Chattanooga, excepting one at Bridgeport, eastward of Stevenson, which was then the eastern extremity of Mitchel's occupation of the railway.

⚫ April 27.

At this time Mitchel's left was threatened by a considerable force under General E. Kirby Smith, that came up from Chattanooga; and the Confederates were collecting here and there in his rear in alarming numbers. His chief objective was now Chattanooga, from which point he might operate

1 General Mitchel informed the writer, late in the summer of that year, that he could not have held the railway from Tuscumbia to Stevenson so long as he did, had it not been for the assistance of the negroes. He found, near Huntsville, an intelligent one who was a carpenter. Having worked at his trade along the whole line of the railway then held, he knew trusty slaves on plantations all along its course, and of the Tennessee River. He employed this man to organize, among his fellow-slaves, a band of informers, who should watch the river and the railway, and report to him any hostile movements of the Confederates. To every man who should give important information he offered freedom from slavery, among the rewards. They were faithful, and he often checked incipient movements against his posts, in consequence of information received from these slaves. 2 See page 267.

That bridge, lying upon massive stone piers, was one of the finest of the kind in the South. It was not yet rebuilt when the writer visited Decatur and crossed the Tennessee in a ferry-boat, late in April, 1866.

MITCHEL'S OPERATIONS.

291

against the great system of railways which connected the eastern and western portions of the Confederacy, and by their destruction or control to isolate the active body of that organization beyond the mountains from the scheming head at Richmond, and so paralyze its whole vitality. Mitchel proposed to reach out from Chattanooga a helping hand to East Tennessee in destroying the Confederate forces at Knoxville, Greenville, and Cumberland Gap; and another, as a destructive one, smiting the great founderies of the Confederates at Rome, and breaking up the railway connection between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Already a secret expedition for the latter purpose had been set on foot; and it was more important for Mitchel to extend his conquests to Chattanooga than to hold the posts at Decatur and Tuscumbia. Accordingly, when Colonel Turchin was driven from the latter place, Colonel Sill, at Stevenson, was ordered to Bridgeport, in the direction of Chattanooga, at which point a fine railway bridge crossed the Tennessee River.

■ April 29, 1862.

When Turchin fled from Decatur, he was ordered to the support of Sill. Lytle's brigade of Ohioans joined that leader on the 28th, between Stevenson and Bridgeport, and, four miles from the latter place, a severe skirmish occurred the next day." Mitchel, on hearing of the danger to his left, had hastened thither to take command in person. The skirmish resulted favorably to the Nationals. The Confederates were driven beyond the Tennessee, at Bridgeport, with a loss of sixty-three killed, many wounded, and two pieces of cannon. They attempted to destroy the great bridge' there, but failed. A detachment of Mitchel's troops crossed it in pursuit, captured two cannon on the eastern side, and, pushing on as far as Shellmound station, destroyed a Confederate saltpeter manufactory in Nickajack Cave, at the base of the mountain, half a mile southward of the railway. Having secured the post at Bridgeport, Mitchel wrote to the Secretary of War on the first of May," "The campaign is ended, and I now occupy Huntsville in perfect security, while in all Alabama north of the Tennessee River floats no flag but that of the Union.” Let us now return to a consideration of events in the vicinity of Corinth. General Halleck's army commenced a cautious forward movement on the 27th of April, and on the 3d of May his advance, under Sherman, was in the vicinity of Monterey, within six or seven miles of Beauregard's lines. It had been re-organized with the title of the Grand Army of the Tennessee, and Grant was made his second in command. That General's army was placed in charge of General George H. Thomas, and composed the right wing. General Pope commanded the left, and General Buell the center. The reserves, composed of his own and Wallace's divisions, were in charge of General McClernand. The whole force now slowly approaching Corinth, and cautiously casting up breast works, numbered about one hundred and eight thousand men.

b 1862.

€ 1862.

Beauregard prepared to meet Halleck. He too had been re-enforced, and his army was re-organized. Price and Van Dorn had arrived with a large

The river is there divided by an island, and the bridge was a long and important one, as it continued at a considerable elevation over the island.

* This is a most remarkable cave, and has been explored for more than a mile. For some distance from its mouth it is spacious enough for a man to ride on horseback. This opening in the mountain is plainly visible from the railway near Shellmound station.

292

MOVEMENT TOWARD CORINTH.

body of Missouri and Arkansas troops; and General Mansfield Lovell, who had fled from New Orleans when Butler's troops and the National gun-boats

a

April 28, 1862.

approached that city," had just arrived with his retreating force. In addition to these, the army had been largely increased by militia who had been sent forward from Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the States immediately threatened with invasion. The organization of the corps of Hardee, Polk, Breckinridge, and Bragg, was continued. The whole number of Beauregard's troops was about sixty-five thousand. Most of them were the best drilled and best tried fighting men in the Confederacy. Bragg was Beauregard's second in rank, and commanded the Army of the Mississippi. Van Dorn was placed at the head of the re-enforcements, and Breckinridge of the reserves. The whole force was within intrenched lines.' Such was the condition and position of the contending armies on the 3d of May.'

1862.

On that day General Pope sent out Generals Paine and Palmer with detachments on a reconnoissance in force toward the hamlet of Farmington, an outpost of the Confederates, about five miles northwest of Corinth, and then in command of General Marmaduke, of Missouri. His troops, about forty-five thousand strong, were in the woods around the little log meeting

house near the hamlet. Marmaduke made very little resistance when attacked, but fled to the lines at Corinth, leaving as spoils for the victors about thirty of his command slain and a hundred wounded; also his camp, with all its supplies, and two hundred prisoners. The National loss was two killed and eleven wounded. The cavalry and artillery pushed on to Glendale, a little east of Corinth, and destroyed the railway track and two important trestle-bridges there. In the mean time, General Wallace had sent out Colonel Morgan L. · April 30. Smith, with three battalions of cavalry and a brigade of infantry, upon the Mobile and Ohio railway, who fought the Confederates in a wood, and destroyed an important bridge and the track not far from Purdy, by which supplies and re-enforcements for Beauregard, at Jackson, Tennessee, were cut off.4

1 These defenses were mostly along the brows of the first ridges outside of the village of Corinth, extending from the Memphis and Charleston railway on the east, and sweeping around northward, crossed the Mobile and Ohio railway to the former road, about three miles westward of Corinth. See map of the battle-field, on page 294. At every road crossing there was a redoubt, or a battery with massive epaulements. Outside of these works on the north were deep lines of abatis.

2 These troops were composed of the Tenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-seventh, Forty-second, and Fifty-first Illinois volunteers; the Tenth and Sixteenth Michigan volunteers; Yates's Illinois sharp-shooters; Houghtailing's Illinois and Hezcock's Ohio batteries; and the Second Michigan cavalry.

3 See page 540, volume I.

This was a timely movement, for, while the bridge was burning, an engine that had been sent up from Corinth to help through three trains heavily laden with troops from Memphis, and hurrying forward by the longer way of Humbolt and Jackson, because the direct road was of insufficient capacity at that time, came thundering on. The Nationals, who lay in ambush, captured it, and ran it off at full speed into the ravine under the burnIng bridge. The re-enforcements for Beauregard were thus effectually cut off.

EVACUATION OF CORINTH.

a May, 1862.

293

On the 20th,

Pope left a brigade to hold Farmington and menace Beauregard's right. Twenty thousand men, under Van Dorn, fell upon them on the 9th, and drove them back. Eight days afterward, Pope re-occupied the post with his whole force, and, at the same time, Sherman moved forward and menaced the Confederate left. Halleck's whole army was engaged in regular siege-operations, casting up field-work after field-work, so as to invest and approach Corinth, and at the same time engaging in skirmishing with all arms, in force equal to that employed in battles at the beginning of the war. Steadily the army moved on, and, on the 28th, it was at an average distance of thirteen hundred yards from Beauregard's works, with heavy siege-guns in position, and reconnoissances in great force in operation on flanks and center. In these the Confederates were driven back. On the following day, Pope expelled them from their advance batteries, and Sherman planted heavy guns within a thousand yards of Beauregard's left.

¿ May 30.

Halleck expected a sanguinary battle the next morning, and prepared for it. He felt confident of success, and quite sure of capturing or dispersing the whole Confederate army, for he had a greatly superior force; had cut Beauregard's railway communications on the north and east of Corinth, and had sent Colonel Elliott on the night of the 27th to strike the Mobile and Ohio railway in his rear.

Halleck's expectations were not realized. All night the vigilant ears of his pickets and sentinels heard the continuous roar of moving cars at Corinth, and reported accordingly. At dawn skirmishers were thrown out, but no foe appeared. How strange! Then the earth was shaken by a series of explosions, and very soon heavy smoke rolled up from Corinth. What did all this mean? "I cannot explain it," said Halleck to an inquiry by Sherman; and then ordered that officer to advance and "feel the enemy still in his front." This was done, but no enemy was found. Beauregard

if

had entirely evacuated Corinth during the night. For two or three days. he had been sending toward Mobile his sick and his most valuable stores; and twenty-four hours before, he had sent away in the same direction a part of his effective force, with nearly all of his ordnance. The rear-guard had left for the south and west during the night, allowing many pickets, unsuspicious of the movement, to be captured. They had blown up the magazines, and fired the town, store-houses, and railway station; and when the Nationals entered they found the smoldering ruins of many

⚫ May 30.

294

BEAUREGARD'S FLIGHT.

dwellings, and warehouses filled with Confederate stores. Thus ended THE SIEGE OF CORINTH; and thus the boastful Beauregard, whose performances generally fell far short of his promises, was utterly discomfited.' staggered at Shiloh and fell at Corinth.

He

The fugitives were pursued by the brave Gordon Granger from Farmington to Guntown, on the Mobile and Ohio railway, a little more than forty miles south of Corinth, and there the chase ended.

Few captures were made, excepting of stragglers. The ex

pedition of Colonel Elliott, with his Iowa cavalry, had not materially intercepted Beauregard in his flight, for he did not strike the road until two o'clock on the morning of the 30th, when the Confederates were pressing southward in force. He destroyed much property at Boonville, and produced a panic, but the raid had little to do with the great result, except to expedite it.

Beauregard collected his scattered troops at Tupelo, on a tributary of the Tombigbee, in a strong posi

tion, and on the 13th of June reported to head-quarters at Richmond that he was "doing all practicable to organize for defensive operations." He soon afterward turned over his army temporarily to General Bragg, and sought

1 Beauregard had issued the following address to his combined army on the 8th of May: "Soldiers of Shiloh and Elkhorn:* We are about to meet once more in the shock of battle the invaders of our soil, the despoilers of our homes, the disturbers of our family ties, face to face, hand to hand. We are to decide whether we are freemen, or vile slaves of those who are only free in name, and who but yesterday were vanquished, although in largely superior numbers, in their own encampments, on the ever-memorable field of Shiloh. Let the impending battle decide our fate, and add a more illustrious page to the history of our revolution-one to which our children will point with noble pride, saying, 'Our fathers were at the battle of Corinth.' I congratulate you on your timely junction. With our mingled banners, for the first time during the war, we shall meet our foe in strength that should give us victory. Soldiers, can the result be doubtful? Shall we not drive back to Tennessee the presumptuous mercenaries collected for our subjugation? One more manly effort, and, trusting in God and the justness of our cause, we shall recover more than we lately lost. Let the sound of our victorious guns be re-echoed by those of Virginia on the historic battle-field at Yorktown.Ӡ

2 Colonel Elliott's movement, without doubt, hastened Beauregard's departure. When it became known to that General, a train of box and flat cars, with flying artillery and 5,000 infantry, were kept running up and down the road continually, to prevent Elliott's reaching it. He struck it at Boonville, at a little past midnight on the

*The Confederates, as we have observed, called the conflict between Curtis and Van Dorn, at Pea Ridge, the Battle of Elkhorn, † it so happened that the Confederates had fled from Yorktown, before McClellan, on the day this address was issued.