CHAPTER X.

The Morning after the Battle-General Sherman's column in Motion-What it did-Corinth the next Goal-The Siege-The Evacuation-General Sherman's troops the first to enter the Works-The Hero is made Major-General -Advance on Holly Springs-Memphis-General Sherman's successful Command in that City-The Guerrillas.

HE eighth of April dawned upon the silent, sanguinary field of recent conflict. Soon large companies of men were moving from the Union camps with spades and other implements of burial, to lay in trenches the heaps of the slain. The weather was warm in that southern latitude, and General Grant hastened the work of interment alike of slaughtered friends and foes.

General Beauregard wrote to our commander, requesting leave to take rebel bodies from our lines under flag of truce; but other hands were completing the sad labor for the disfigured, blood-stained, and pulseless warriors.

Look away from that scene, after the battle, along the Corinth road, and you see the serried files of living men,

led by the unresisting Sherman, dashing along in hot pursuit of the enemy. The chief of the fifth division, with a force of cavalry and two brigades of infantry, is in the war-path again. Suddenly appear the white tents of the abandoned camps of the enemy, and hospital flags are flying over them in the early breeze. What does it mean? They are false signals, hung out to deceive the pursuing commander, and protect the deserted canvas cities. Onward the sagacious, daring leader hurries after the foe.

And now a shout rings from the lips of our "boys." The rebel cavalry are in sight. A few moments later swords cross, pistols crack, and horses rush together in the strife. Then the "graybacks" turn and fly, leaving the field, camps, and all, to our victorious ranks. The work of destruction followed. Tents, arms, ammunition, were mingled in a common ruin. The road for miles was lined with wagons the foe were compelled to leave in their haste to get out of our way; ambulances stood unused, although thousands of the mangled were in need of them; limber-boxes, which belong to the guns, were also abandoned; indeed, every thing showed a hurried retreat, which but for the cavalry in the rear to cover the flight of the infantry, would have been a complete rout of the enemy.

The victor returned from his gallant exploit only to repeat it. The general advance toward Corinth immediately followed. The fifth division swept over the coun

try, which was arrayed in vernal verdure and bloom. The birds sang as sweetly as in any former spring-time, startled beside the highway only by the tramp of the marching host.

May 17th the first shock came. The division of General Grant's army under Sherman, met the rebels in a severe conflict on the road to Corinth. They had to fall back before the human tide, crested with fire and steel. This brief contest only opened the way to the fortress of rebel strength. And the question was, How shall Corinth be taken? It must either be by direct and bloody assault, or by siege, surrounding it, and compelling the imprisoned army to surrender.

Beauregard watched with sleepless vigilance his foe. He ordered troops to intrench on a ridge near Philip's Creek and oppose the Union forces. General Jeff. C. Davis approached the works; then, feigning a retreat, drew the garrison out, when a severe struggle defeated the enemy completely. This occurred May 21st; and, on the 27th, General Sherman also had a fight with the rebels.

The decisive hour at length has come; all is activity and excitement. We cannot furnish you a more vivid description of the stirring and awfully sublime scenes of such a crisis in army operations, than one given in a letter from this field of conquest:

"Regiments and artillery are placed in position, and,

generally, the cavalry is in advance; but when the opposing forces are in close proximity, the infantry does the work. The whole front is covered by a cloud of skirmishers, then reserves formed, and then, in connection with the main line, they advance. For a moment all is still as the grave to those in the background; as the line moves on, the eye is strained in vain to follow the skirmishers as they creep silently forward; then, from some point of the line, a single rifle rings through the forest, sharp and clear, and, as if in echo, another answers it. In a moment more the whole line resounds with the din of arms. Here the fire is slow and steady, there it rattles with fearful rapidity; and the whole is mingled with the roar of the reserves as the skirmishers are at any part driven in; and if, by reason of superior force, these reserves fall back to the main force, then every nook and corner seems full of sound. The batteries open their terrible voices, and their shells sing horribly while winging their flight, and their dull explosion speaks plainly of death; their canister and grape go crashing through the trees, rifles ring, the muskets roar, and the din is terrific. Then the slackening of the fire denotes the withdrawing of the one party, and the more distant picket firing that the work was accomplished. The silence becomes almost painful after such a scene as this, and no one can conceive the effect who has not experienced it. The line of works was selected, and, at the word of command,

three thousand men, with axes, spades, and picks, stepped out into the open field from their cover in the woods. In almost as short a time as it takes to tell it, the fence rails which surrounded and divided three hundred farm lots, were on the shoulders of the men, and on the way to the intended line of works. Then, as, for a time, the ditches deepen, the dirt is packed on the outer side, the bushes and all points of concealment are cleared from the front, and the centre divisions of our army has taken a long stride toward the rebel works. The siege guns are brought and placed in commanding positions. A log-house furnishes the hewn and seasoned timber for the platforms, and the plantation of a southern lord has been thus speedily transformed into one of Uncle Sam's strongholds, where the Stars and Stripes float proudly.

"Soon after daylight, on Friday morning, the army was startled by rapid and long-continued explosions, similar to musketry, but much louder. The conviction flashed across my mind that the rebels were blowing up their loose ammunition, and leaving. The dense smoke arising in the direction of Corinth strengthened this belief, and soon the whole army was advancing on a grand reconnoissance. The distance through the woods was short, and in a few minutes shouts arose from the rebel lines, which told that our army was in their trenches. Regiment after regiment pressed on, and passing through ex