spare. Rosecrans, meanwhile, moved with the separated divisions of Generals Stanley and C. S. Hamilton from Clear Spring with about nine thousand troops, through a drenching rain, and all bivouacked that night at Jacinto, on the Mobile and Ohio railway, nearly twenty miles southward from Iuka. On the morning of the 19th they pushed on in light marching order toward Iuka, with Mizner's cavalry, driving a Confederate guard from Barnett's Corners; and early in the afternoon Hamilton's division, moving cautiously, in expectation of hearing the co-operating guns of Ord, and skirmishing almost continually, was within two miles of Iuka, on densely wooded heights, at a cross-road connecting the highways running from the village to Jacinto and Fulton respectively. There Hamilton formed a line of battle and advanced his skirmishers, who found the Confederates in strong force and

position along a deep ravine behind the crest of the hill. The skirmishers were driven back, and a severe battle was immediately begun.

The ground, covered with underbrush, was difficult to operate upon; but, after much exertion, the Eleventh Ohio battery, under a heavy fire of grape, canister, and shell, was put in position on the crest of the hill, so as to command the road in front, with the Fifth Iowa, Colonel Matthias, and Twenty-sixth Missouri, Colonel Boomer, in support. At the same time Colonel Eddy, with the Forty-eighth Indiana, was holding ground under a terrible fire, a little in front of the battery to whose assistance the Fourth Minnesota, Captain Le Gro, and Sixteenth Iowa, Colonel Chambers, were speedily sent. The struggle of these few regiments against more than three times their number, led by General Price in person, was brave and unflinching, until Colonel Eddy was mortally wounded, and the remainder of his regiment was hurled back in disorder, leaving the battery (every horse of which had been killed, and seventy-two of the men, including nearly all of the officers, had been slain or wounded) to be seized by the Confederates. For the possession of these guns desperate charges and counter-charges were made, and they were repeatedly taken and retaken, until they were finally dragged from the field by the Confederates. The bravery of its commander, Lieutenant Sears, was specially commended.

While this struggle was going on, in which the movements were immediately directed by Brigadier-Generals Sanborn and Sullivan, Stanley's

was a very commodious public-house, well arranged for a pleasant summer residence, and called "Inka Springs Hotel." When the writer was there a new proprietor was renovating it, the hotel and the grounds around the springs having been utterly neglected during the war. The house had been used as a hospital by both parties. Wearied and famished from excessive travel and lack of sleep and food, the author found absolute restoration by reposing there over night and part of a day, and making free use of the water. It must be a delightful place in summer, when the house and grounds are in order, for both invalids and pleasure-seekers.

1 This little sketch shows the appearance of the battle-ground and the Jacinto road in front of the position of the Eleventh Obio battery, looking toward Iuka. The largest tree with the immense wart was thickly dotted with the scars made by bullets and canister-shot, and those of the whole woods around it showed tokens of the battle.

division had come up, but the nature of the ground was such that more troops than were then engaged could not well be made useful, and only the Eleventh Missouri,' which was pushed to the front, and which gallantly assisted the Fifth Iowa and Twenty-sixth Missouri in driving the Confederates back to the ravine, participated in the battle. Stanley himself had been for some time at the front, assisting Hamilton and his officers. Colonel Perczel, with the Tenth Iowa and a section of Immell's battery, had foiled

the Confederates in an attempt to turn the National left, and soon afterward they were driven to the shelter of the hollows toward the town. Darkness came on, and THE BATTLE OF IUKA ended.

Where was Ord during the battle? He was expected to co-operate with Rosecrans, but did not. A greater portion of the day he had been watching the movements of a Confederate force upon Corinth, which proved to be only a feint. Leaving a portion of his force to strengthen the garrison at Corinth, he hastened to Burnsville, where he arrived at four o'clock, and found Ross waiting with about three thousand men. Grant ordered him immediately forward with about five thousand men, with directions to halt within four miles of Iuka, until he should hear Rosecrans's guns. A high wind from the northward prevented this, and there Ord lay in expectation of the summons until the next morning, when, hearing the sound of cannon, he pushed forward to Iuka, but not to find an enemy. Rosecrans and his victorious troops were there. They had rested on their arms during the

1 This regiment, though organized in Missouri, was composed of citizens of Illinois, with the exception of about twenty men. For over half an hour it held its position in this battle without having a single round of ammunition.

516

VISIT TO IUKA BATTLE-GROUND.

night, expecting to renew the conflict in the morning; but when Stanley went forward at dawn for the purpose, he found that Price had fled southward along the Fulton road, under cover of the darkness, leaving behind. him the guns of the Eleventh Ohio battery. A pursuit was immediately commenced that lasted all day, but Price had too much the start, and escaped. Marching to Ripley, in Mississippi, he joined the larger force under Van Dorn, a detachment of which had been menacing Corinth, as we have seen, on the day of the battle at Inka. Ord returned to Bolivar, and Rosecrans remained a few days in Iuka,

a Sept. 28,

1862.

ROSECRANS'S HEAD-QUARTERS.

making his head-quarters at the house of R. C. Brinkley, situated upon a hill a little eastward of the village.1

The writer visited Iuka toward the close of April, 1866, and went over the battle-ground with Major George, a resident of the village, who had

been one of the most active of the scouts of Forrest and Roddy in that region, and participated in the battle just described. We rode out in a carriage drawn by a span of spirited horses, driven by a colored boy only eight years and a half old, who managed them and the breaks of the vehicle, when going down steep hills and gullied ways, with all the skill of an experienced man. We passed along the Jacinto road to the crest of the hill on which the Eleventh Ohio battery was planted. It had been cleared of trees and underbrush, but a new growth nearly covered the ground, which at one place was white with the bleached bones of one hundred and fifty horses. Near by were the graves of the slain men of the Ohio battery, at the head

OUR COACHIMAN.

1 The disparity in numbers in this conflict was very great. "I say boldly," reported General Hamilton on the 23d of September, "that a force of not more than 2,800 men met and confronted a rebel force of 11,000 on a field chosen by Price and a position naturally very strong, and with its every advantage inuring to the enemy." In another part of his report he says: "My division marched nineteen miles, fought a desperate battle with seven regiments against a rebel force, under General Price, of not less than eighteen regiments, won a glorious victory, lying at night on their arms, and the following morning chased the fleeing enemy fifteen miles." In a general order, issued on the 26th, Rosecrans repeats this substantially, and told them that they might well be proud of the battle of Iuka. He reported his loss at 732, of whom 144 were killed, 598 were wounded, and forty were missing. Among the wounded was the gallant Colonel Boomer, of the Twenty-sixth Missouri. We have no official returns of the Confederate loss. Pollard says it was about 800; but Rosecrans estimates from various data, such as 265 of them buried by his troops and over 700 wounded left in the hospitals, their total loss at 1,488. He captured from them 1,629 stand of arms, 18,000 rounds of ammunition, and a large quantity of equipments and stores.

THE GRAVES OF OHIO SOLDIERS.

517

of many of which were rude boards, each bearing the name of the sleeper beneath. The kind-hearted major showed much feeling, as he leaned on one of them and mused, while the writer was making the annexed sketch. "Poor fellows!" he said, "they fought bravely. The war is over, and we are now friends. If you meet with any of their relatives, tell them to write to Major George, and he will do every thing in his power to restore to them the remains of their friends." After visiting every part of the battle-field, and making the sketches herewith given, we returned to Iuka, and the next morning the writer journeyed toward Nashville.

Corinth, where stirring events occurred at the close of May, became the theater of more stirring events early in October. Rosecrans arrived there from Iuka on the 26th of September, and prepared to meet an expected attack upon the post by the combined armies of Price and Van Dorn. Ord, as we have seen, returned to Bolivar. Grant made his head-quarters at Jackson, in Mississippi. Sherman was holding Memphis, and Rosecrans, with about twenty thousand men, was left to hold Corinth

and the region around it. The earth-works constructed there by Beauregard and Halleck had been strengthened under the direction of General Cullum, but they were modified, and new ones were constructed by Major F. E. Prime, Grant's Chief-Engineer, which were better adapted for the use of a smaller force than occupied them in May. The new line was made especially strong westward of Corinth, from which direction the foe was expected, and was much nearer the town than the old ones.

Immediately after their junction at Ripley, a point about half way between Jacinto and Holly Springs, Price and Van Dorn prepared to march upon Corinth, the key to the military possession of Tennessee and co-operation with Bragg. If Corinth could be taken, and the force there driven back on the Tennessee and cut off, Bolivar and Jackson would easily fall, and then, upon the arrival of the exchanged prisoners of war, West Tennessee might soon be in possession of the Confederates, and communication with Bragg be established through Middle Tennessee. So reasoned Van Dorn. Regarding "the attack on Corinth as a military necessity," he moved forward" in command of the combined forces

a Sept. 29, 1862.

1 Many of the boards had fallen down or been removed. Those standing, and seen in the picture, contained the following names:-Lieutenant R. Bauer, Sergeant M. V. B. Hall, Corporal S. C. Gilmore, Privates W. H. Bolser, C. Schefteni, C. P. Olsen, W. Crawford, J. Ettle, J. W. Brewer, J. H. Ingersoll, J. T. Malson, J. Dean, J. Casey, J. Taylor.

2 See page 293.

See Van Dorn's Report, Oct. 20, 1862.

518

• Oct. 1 1862.

6 October.

CONFEDERATES THREATENING CORINTH.

(he ranked Price), numbering about twenty-two thousand men, and struck the Memphis and Charleston railway at Pocahontas," about half way between Corinth and Grand Junction. On the night of the 2d the Confederate Army bivouacked at Chewalla, only ten miles from Corinth. It was difficult for Rosecrans to determine whether Van Dorn's destination was Corinth, Bolivar, or Jackson. He was prepared for any emergency. His cavalry-"the eyes of the army," as Rosecrans called themwere on the alert in every direction, and troops were thrown out toward the foe, to meet his advance. Skirmishing ensued, but it was not until the morning of the 3d' that Rosecrans felt assured that Corinth was Van Dorn's objective. Then, before dawn, he disposed his troops to meet him. Hamilton's division formed the right, Davies's the center, and McKean's the left; and a brigade of three regiments, under Colonel Oliver, with a section of artillery, was thrown well forward beyond Beauregard's old works, on the Chewalla road, along which it was ascertained the Confederates were advancing. The cavalry was disposed so as to watch every highway radiating from Corinth, for the commanding general, being unable to find a map of the country, was illy informed concerning the northwesterly approaches to the town. Such was the position of Rosecrans's army for battle on the morning of the 3d.

e Oct. 3.

Colonel Oliver felt the pressure of the advancing force early that morning. It was their vanguard, under General Mansfield Lovell,' which at about half-past seven encountered Oliver, who was well posted on a hill, with orders to hold it so firmly that the strength of the foe might be developed. He was soon hard pressed, when General

McArthur was sent to his support. McArthur found the foe numerous, and he, too, was soon heavily pushed, and the Confederates moving to outflank him; but he called up four regiments from McKean's division to his assistance. Meanwhile Rosecrans, informed that the foe was in strong force, had directed Davies to send up two regiments. By this time a skir mish that seemed to be a feint to make a more important movement was developing into a regular battle, when the Confederates made a desperate charge, drove the Nationals from the hill, and captured two guns. It was now evident that the Confederates had come to recapture Corinth, with its immense stores, and that this was the beginning of the struggle. McKean's division was accordingly drawn back to the ridge next beyond the inner intrenchments, in front of the town, with orders to close with his right

WILLIAM S. ROSECRANS.

1 It consisted of the brigades of Villipigue, Bowen, and Rust. Van Dorn's army advanced in the following order:-Lovell's corps, with its left resting on the Memphis and Charleston railway; Price's corps, composed of the divisions of Maury and Hebert, with its right resting on the same road; and Armstrong's cavalry on the extreme left.