Battle of Corinth MS

By: Brian Freeman

The Battle of Corinth occurred on October 3-4 of 1862. This battle was actually the second battle to occur at the very important Confederate and Union strategic point of Corinth, Mississippi. The Battle of Corinth is often referred to as the Second Battle of Corinth. However, the battle that occurred earlier in April and June of 1862 is known as the Siege of Corinth. Aside from the fact that two battles were fought there, the strategic importance of Corinth in the Civil War cannot be stressed enough for both the Confederate and Federal armies. During the Civil War, the town of Corinth, Mississippi was part of the major Southern rail line junction which joined the Mobile, Ohio, Memphis, and Charleston railroads. For the Confederate army, Corinth was not only the major supply line, but also a strategic lifeline if the Confederate army wished to win the war. The historian James McPherson emphasizes the importance of Corinth to the Confederates in his book Battle Cry of Freedom, “Confederate leaders also considered Corinth a crucial strategic point. ‘If defeated here,’ wrote Beauregard two weeks after Shiloh, ‘we lose the whole Mississippi Valley and probably our cause.’”[1]If the Union were allowed to take control of Corinth they would be able to carry out General Winfield Scott’s Anaconda plan and squeeze the South out of the war. On the other hand, as long as the Confederates could continue to keep control of the area, they would be able to build defensive lines and supply their forces.

Prior to the major Battle of Corinth, two major battles had occurred for the area of Corinth. The first battle was the Battle of Shiloh, which was the Confederate attempt to keep the Union forces from entering Corinth, Mississippi and its important railroad junction. The Battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6 and 7 of 1862, in Southwestern Tennessee. Confederate forces, under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard, launched a surprise attack against the Union Army of Major General Ulysses S. Grant and came very close to defeating his army. However, Grant was saved by the arrival of Don Carlos Buell and his Army of the Ohio, who aided him in launching a massive counter attack against the Confederate forces. By the end of April 7, 1862 it was clear the Confederates could not hold their position and were forced to retreat back to Corinth. After two days of battle it was clear this would be one of bloodiest battle in Civil War history. James McPherson points out the massive amount of lives lost, “The 20,000 killed and wounded at Shiloh (about equally distributed between the two sides) were nearly double the 12,000 battle casualties at Manassas, Wilson’s Creek, Fort Donelson, and Pea Ridge combined.”[2]

The second battle was the Siege of Corinth, fought from April 29 to June 10, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. In the Siege of Corinth the Union forces invaded and captured Corinth from Confederate forces. Lincoln, angry with Ulysses S. Grant after the heavy Union losses following the Battle of Shiloh, replaced him with General Henry W. Halleck. Halleck, cautious from the staggering losses at Shiloh, embarked on a tedious campaign of offensive entrenchment, fortifying after each advance. In the words of the historian James McPherson, “If Halleck’s precautions made sure that Beauregard could not attack him, they made equally sure that he could not effectively attack Beauregard.”[3] Halleck’s turtle-like siege was the largest in North American history. As a matter of fact, it was the largest in all of the Americas. The siege consisted of 120,000 Union soldiers and 70,000 Confederate soldiers. Confederate forces, in order to defend Corinth, dug many earth fortifications. Ironically, these fortifications would later prove more useful for the Union army in the Battle of Corinth. Confederate General P.G.T Beauregard understood he could not hold Corinth and decided to keep his army intact rather than keep the important railroad junction. Thus, Beauregard staged an ingenious retreat from Corinth. The Civil war Battlefield guide depicts the event: “Throughout the night of May 29-30 Beauregard orchestrated a perfect deception by running a succession of empty trains back and forth through the town while whistles blew and troops cheered as if massive reinforcements were arriving.”[4] Once he arrived “fifty miles to the south at his new base, Tupelo, Mississippi, Beauregard pronounced the evacuation of Corinth ‘equivalent to a great victory,’” believing the retreat was as successful as winning the battle.[5] One success of the battle was the low number of casualties. The casualties during the Siege of Corinth numbered 1000 for each side. This was low considering about 200,000 troops occupied the area.

After two major battles at Corinth, with both battles resulting in Union victory and control of the strategic railroad junction, it came time for the Confederacy to strike back and attempt to the area back. That time came October 3-4, 1862 in the Battle of Corinth when the Confederates posed a strike at the heavily fortified Union defensive at Corinth. At this point in time the Confederate army was under the command of Braxton Bragg. The Civil War Battlefield Guide explains, “CS General P.G.T. Beauregard went on sick leave in mid-June, and President Jefferson Davis took advantage of the opportunity to replace him with CS General Braxton Bragg.”[6] Bragg was anxious to fight the Union forces. He moved the Army of the Mississippi by rail to Chattanooga. Upon reaching Chattanooga, Bragg moved aggressively and continued deep into Kentucky. Before leaving Mississippi, Bragg left 32,000 soldiers under the command of Major General Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn with the expectation that they would move into Tennessee. However, Earl Van Dorn, the senior of the two generals, used his seniority status and decided to attack Corinth before advancing to Tennessee. Earl Van Dorn was a career United States Army officer who made himself a reputation when he fought in the Mexican-American War and against the Indians in the West. James McPherson describes Earl Van Dorn as a, “diminutive but hard-bitten Mississippian who had been wounded five times in the Mexican War and in frontier Indian fighting.”[7] Yet, in spite of his previous successes, Van Dorn’s distinction during the Civil War would not match the reputation he earned during the Mexican War. On March 6-8, 1862, Van Dorn was in command of Confederate forces during Pea Ridge. During the Battle of Pea Ridge, Van Dorn made many critical mistakes, which lead to a major decisive and strategic Union victory. In the Battle of Corinth, Van Dorn continued his trends of mistake, which again lead to a Union victory.

On the morning of October 3^rd Van Dorn marched to Corinth with 23,000 men eager to retake the area. To Van Dorn’s surprise, the numerically equal Union forces led by William Rosecrans were well prepared for the battle. Rosecrans had ordered his troops to heavily fortify lines and connect them to a series of batteries. The batteries, consisting of Robinett, Williams, Phillips, Tannrath, and Lothrop in the area of College Hill, proved to be valuable to the Union cause. The defensive capabilities of the fortified batteries allowed Rosecrans to stop the Confederate advances. The Civil War Battlefield Guide points out, “This defensive enabled him to sap the Confederates’ strength as they advanced and to defend the supply depots in downtown Corinth and at the railroad intersection.”[8] Furthermore, Rosecrans took full advantage of the old Confederate trench line which had been built by the Confederate troops during the Siege of Corinth. It was at these old lines where Rosecrans’ and Van Dorn’s men first met. The morning of October 3 the troops clashed and by that night the Confederate troops had pushed Union forces nearly three miles into the interior defenses before exhaustion halted their advance. Intense heat of the October day punished both sides. The Confederates troops, under the command of Earl Van Don, suffered greatly due to lack of water and food, as he was notoriously known for having poor provisions. The next day Van Dorn made the critical mistake of attacking the daunting Union fortifications Battery Robinett and Battery Powell. As a result, the most intense and savage fighting during the Battle of Corinth took place. Wave after wave of Confederates troops charged the forts as massive 20-pound cannons continuously fired at them. Peter Cozzens describes how the “grape shot and canister tore terrible lanes through the Confederate ranks, but the determined men of Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi never faltered.”[9] Cozzens goes on to state, “Van Dorn's grand flanking movement had played itself out in a series of fierce but poorly coordinated charges against a foe numerically equal and supported by seven batteries of artillery.”[10] When the smoke cleared there was a mass of struggling Confederates bodies. The fortifications proved to be too overwhelming, and the “Union counter attacks soon drove the Confederates from Battery Powell and from the town.”[11] The Confederates withdrew from the heavy fighting with the burden of 4,800 casualties out of their 22,000 men. Rosecrans attempted to pursue and destroy Van Dorn’s army, but with his 2,350 causalities out of his 23,000 troops and exhaustion setting in from holding the city, was unable to mount an effective pursuit. Rosecrans would later receive a promotion for his command; whereas, Van Dorn was demoted. Van Dorn eventually “was assassinated in his headquarters at Spring Hill, Tennessee, May 7, 1863 by a Dr. Peters, who alleged as a justification for his act that Van Dorn had ‘violated the sanctity of his home.”[12]

In the aftermath of the Battle of Corinth, Grant was able to launch an invasion southward along the Mississippi Central Railroad to capture Vicksburg and the Mississippi Valley. The Battle of Corinth was the last Confederate offensive movement in the Mississippi theater. The Union forces continued to hold Corinth until they abandoned it in the winter of 1863-1864, for it had no strategic significance anymore. Nevertheless, the strategic railroad junction was as important for the Reconstruction as it was during the war. The area of Corinth was also crucially important to the education of freed slaves. Overall the Battle of Corinth was the turning point in the war. It was the key ignition for executing the Union Anaconda plan to squeeze the Confederacy out of the war. The Union control of Corinth allowed them to cut off much needed Confederate supplies and eventually capture the entire Mississippi Valley. If Confederates forces would have been allowed to keep or retake Corinth, their chances for winning a defensive war would have greatly improved. Even though we will never know what would have happen if the Confederate troops were allowed to retake Corinth, it cannot be denied that Corinth, Mississippi was vitally important during the war.

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[1] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988), 416

[2] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 413

[3] Ibid 416

[4] Kennedy,Frances H., The Civil War Battlefield Guide. 2^nd Edition, Iuka and Corinth, Mississippi, Campaign: September-October 1862. (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 53

[5] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom , 417.

[6] Kennedy,Frances H. The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 129.

[7] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988), 404

[8] Kennedy,Frances H. The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 131.

[9] Peter Cozzens. Moving into dead men's shoes, Civil War Times Illustrated; May97, Vol. 36 Issue 2.

[10] Ibid, 1.

[11] Kennedy,Frances H. The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 131.

[12]Ezra J. Warner, Generals In Gray. (New Orleans: Louisiana State University Press, 1959), 315.