same State were brigaded together, this latter being an infinitessimal concession to the Grand Lama of States-rights. In a word, every nerve was strained by the Confederate authorities to regain lost ground, repair their broken fortunes, and achieve, at least, a partial success. The results were striking. The disasters of the spring of 1862 were followed by the successes of the Peninsula, the victories of the second Bull Run, and the advance into Maryland. Rebel troops gathered in large numbers in the West, and Grant was to have no easy task in his advance upon Vicksburg. The first step towards Vicksburg was the capture and occupation of Holly Springs, by Sherman, on the 30th of June. NOTE.-Beauregard left the ariny at Tupelo on the 15th of June, relieving himself from duty, on account of ill-health, which he certified by the opinion of two surgeons. For two months he was in retirement with his family at Mobile and Bladon Springs; and turned up again at Charleston, in an unimportant command. He had evidently fallen under the displeasure of the Davis administration.* The rationale of this is thus presented by the Confederate General Jordan, in an excellent article on Jefferson Davis, in Harper's Monthly Magazine for October, 1865: "General Beauregard, for some time in bad health, thought it best for the service to take advantage of the lull in operations, incident to the position of his army at Tupelo, after the successful evacuation of Corinth, and by a short respite from duty, seek to recuperate. He therefore retired to Bladon Springs, some twelve hours distant by railroad, turning over the command to General Bragg, with instructions looking to the preparation of the army for the field at once on his return, which he anticipated would be in three weeks. But no sooner had Mr. Davis heard of this step than he telegraphed General Bragg to assume permanent command. General Beauregard was thus laid on the shelf-not to be reinstated, as Mr. Davis passionately declared, though the whole world should urge him to the measure." The last sentence he substantiates by referring to "Notes of interview of Congressional Committee with Mr. Davis, to request restoration of General Beauregard to his command." CHAPTER XI. IUKA AND CORINTH. AFTER A BRIEF HALT, FORWARD.-ADMINISTRATION.-IUKA.-PRICE MARCHES UP.GRANT'S SAGACITY. THE BATTLE.-ROSECRANS AND ORD.-DIFFICULT GROUND.— PRICE RETREATS SOUTHWARD.-CORINTH. THE FORTIFICATIONS.-PRICE'S ATTACK -VAN DORN's.-THE BLOODY REPULSE.-Ord and HURLBUT IN FLANK AND REAR. -"HOW DOES IT ALL SUM UP ?"-SKETCHES OF COMMANDERS. ON the 11th of August, by general orders from the War Department, General Halleck was assigned to the command of "the whole land forces of the United States, as general-inchief." This caused a new arrangement to be made at the West; and for the time, until that could be made, it gave General Grant an extended military jurisdiction, great labors of administration, and-one good thing at least" ample room and verge enough" for his new schemes. In the mean time, from June till September, there was but little fighting in his department. He bent his energy to a thorough reorganization, and sent some of his troops, by orders from Washington, to re-enforce Buell's army, seriously threatened by Bragg's advance through East Tennessee and Kentucky towards the Ohio River. He also kept his cavalry in constant reconnoissances, to ascertain the position of the enemy, and to guard all parts of his command against secret movements and surprises. With his weakened force he could not do more. His orders with regard to passes and paroles-carefully distinguishing between innocent, suffering citizens and the friends and sympathizers of the rebellion-are clear and statesmanlike. His treatment of guerrillas, who were battening, like birds of prey, upon friends and foes alike, was sharp and relentless.* Rebel sympathizers were to pay, by sudden seizure of their property, for such depredations. "The Memphis Avalanche," a newspaper echoing the secret thoughts of the citizens, in an overbold manner, was suddenly suspended for uttering treasonable sentiments, and only permitted to renew its issue upon the withdrawal of its seditious editor. The disposition made of fugitive negroes was practical:† they * GENERAL ORDERS, NO 60. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, The system of guerilla warfare now being prosecuted by some troops organized under authority of the so-called Southern Confederacy, and others without such authority, being so pernicious to the welfare of the community where it is carried on, and it being within the power of the community to suppress this system, it is ordered, that wherever loss is sustained by the Government, collections shall be made, by seizure of a sufficient amount of personal property, from persons in the immediate neighborhood sympathizing with the rebellion, to remunerate the Government for all loss and expense of the same. Persons acting as guerrillas, without organization, and without uniform to distinguish them from private citizens, are not entitled to the treatment of prisoners of war when caught, and will not receive such treatment. By order of JOHN A. RAWLINS, A. A. G. MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. GRANT. We give the following order in full, as indicating the true military course, in pursuance of the Act of Congress : GENERAL ORDERS, No. 72. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF WEST TENNESSEE, The recent act of Congress prohibits the army from returning fugitives from labor to their claimants, and authorizes the employment of such persons in the service of the Government. The following orders are therefore published for the guidance of the army in this matter: 1. All fugitives thus employed must be registered; the names of the fugitive and claimant given; and must be borne upon the morning report of the command in which they are kept, showing how they are employed. 2. Fugitives may be employed as laborers in the Quartermaster's, Subsistence, and Engineer department; and whenever by such employment a soldier may be saved to the ranks, they may be employed as teamsters and as company cooks, not exceeding four to a company, or as hospital attendants and nurses. Officers may employ them as private servants; in which latter case the fugitives will not be paid or rationed by the Government. Negroes thus employed must be secured as authorized persons, and will be excluded from the camps. were put to useful employment, and kindly treated, while awaiting the further action of the Government concerning them. In a professedly military work, we have not deemed it necessary to dwell upon these details of departmental organization; but when all his orders and dispatches are published in a body, as they will be hereafter, they will show that such duties form by no means the lightest and easiest labors of a general charged with an extensive department. To a military man, fighting battles is truly an easier task; and besides, it is not often the case that the commander, who marshals men skilfully upon the field, is equal to this more judicial and diplomatic task. The converse is also true. It adds greatly, therefore, to the reputation of General Grant, that he could do both in so admirable a manner. Sound judgment, clear good sense, and pithy expression, characterize all these executive papers. But the wild fire of battle was soon to sweep over his command, and give him the more technical duties of a general to perform. 3. Officers and soldiers are positively prohibited from enticing slaves to leave their masters. When it becomes necessary to employ this kind of labor, the commanding officer of the post or troop must send details, all under the charge of a suitable commissioned officer, to press into service the slaves of persons to the number required. 4. Citizens within reach of any military station, known to be disloyal and dangerous, may be ordered away or arrested, and their crops and stock taken for the benefit of the Government or the use of the army. 5. All property taken from rebel owners must be duly reported, and used for the benefit of the Government, and be issued to the troops through the proper department; and when practicable, the act of taking should be accompanied by the written certificate of the officer so taking, to the owner or agent of such property. It is enjoined on all commanders to see that this order is executed strictly under their own direction. The demoralization of troops, subsequent upon being left to execute laws in their own way, without a proper head, must be avoided. By command of JOHN A. RAWLINS; A. A. G. MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT. General Pope, who had commanded the Army of the Mississippi, in the advance upon Corinth, had been called away to the far more difficult task of commanding the Army of Virginia. A personal friend of Mr. Lincoln, and a regular officer of Topographical Engineers, his labors in Missouri, his success at New Madrid, and his activity at Corinth, had preferred him to this dangerous honor. Rosecrans, of West Virginia repute, replaced him in command of the Army of the Mississippi. Our gunboats were still busy on the Mississippi. On the 26th of June, the mortar-boats had gone down to Vicksburg, and engaged the batteries, now manned by a portion of the rebel army which had retreated from Corinth. The importance of Vicksburg being now manifest to the Confederate authorities, every nerve was strained to make it strong against the day of Grant's attack. On the 5th of August, General Breckinridge attacked Baton Rouge, but was repulsed, after a terrible struggle, in which the Union commander, General Tom Williams, was killed. Such are some of the collateral events which bore, more or less directly, upon the welfare of Grant's department. And now, Grant's careful reconnoissances disclosed the rebel designs upon his own department, and enabled him to make skilful combinations to defeat them. THE BATTLE OF IUKA. General Sterling Price, with a force of twelve thousand men, marched boldly up from the south, to cross the Memphis and Charleston Railroad at some point between Corinth and Tuscumbia, probably at Iuka. As he advanced, on the 10th of September, to Jacinto, the small Union garrison at that place retired to Corinth. Tuscumbia was also evacuated by Colonel Murphy, of General Stanley's division, who fell back in haste to Iuka. The little garrison of Iuka was, in pursuance of the same general orders, withdrawn to Corinth, and Murphy was left behind it, to destroy the stores collected |