Immediately after the battle of Iuka, the rebel forces of Price and Van Dorn formed a junction, for the purpose of making another attempt upon Corinth. General Rosecrans, meanwhile, always watchful and energetic, speedily divined their plans, and at once made the requisite preparations to check their advance. Nor was the collision long deferred. On the morning of the 3rd of October, the Union forces were attacked by a body of insurgents, largely superior in numbers, (officially stated at thirty-eight thousand,) and on that day and the next was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the war, which is known as the battle of Corinth. The rebel force was commanded by Generals Price, Van Dorn, Lovell, Villipigue and Rusk.
The following was the disposition of the Union troops, on the 3rd of October: General McKean with his division occupied Chewalla; General Davis with his division, occupied the line between the Memphis and Columbus road: General Hamilton, with his division, had taken position between the rebel works, on the Purdy and Hamburgh roads; and General Stanley held his division in reserve, near the old headquarters of General Grant. This disposition of the troops placed General Hamilton on the right, General McKean on the left, and General Davis in the centre. McKean had an advance of three regiments of infantry, and a section of artillery under Colonel Oliver, on the Chewalla road, beyond the enemy’s breastworks.
On the morning of the 3rd, the advance under Colonel Oliver, took a strong position on a hill, near an angle in these breastworks: and at about nine o’clock they were strongly pressed by the enemy, who manœuvred to outflank them. At ten o’clock General Rosecrans was informed that Colonel Oliver was imperatively in need of reinforcements, and must yield his position unless they were furnished. The hill would be of great value to the enemy; and it was therefore necessary that the Union forces should hold possession of it; and two regiments of Colonel Davies’ brigade were sent to Colonel Oliver’s assistance. It was presently demonstrated that Brigadier-General Arthur had taken up four more regiments from McKean’s division; and Colonel Oliver’s position upon the hill was being strongly contested. An advance, leaving an interval between McArthur’s and Davies’ left, was now made upon the enemy’s breastworks; but the rebels cleverly pushed on behind Davies’ left, and, after a fierce and determined resistance, forced the brigade to a rapid retreat of nearly a thousand yards, in which movement it lost two heavy guns. Of the fighting, in this engagement, on the 3rd of October, General Rosecrans speaks thus:
“Our troops fought with the most determined courage, firing very low. At one P. M. Davies having resumed the same position he had occupied in the morning, and McArthur’s brigade having fought a heavy force, it became evident that the enemy were in full strength, and meant mischief. McKean with Crocker’s brigade had seen only skirmishers; there were no signs of any movement on our left, and only a few cavalry skirmishers on our right. It was pretty clear that we were to expect the weight of the attack to fall on our centre, where hopes had been given of our falling back.
“Orders were accordingly given to McKean to fall back to the next ridge beyond our intrenchments, to touch his right on Davies’ left, for Stanley to move northward and eastward, to stand in close echelon, but nearer town. General Hamilton was ordered to face toward Chewalla and move down until his left reached Davies’ right. Davies was informed of these dispositions, told to hold his ground obstinately, and then, when he had drawn them in strongly, Hamilton would swing in on their front and rear and close the day. Hamilton was carefully instructed on this point, and entered into the spirit of it.”
The result of this day’s battle was not favorable to the National troops; the fighting of each and every division engaged was superb, but the number of the enemy so far exceeded that of the Union army that when the engagement for the day was closed by the approach of night, the whole National force was driven back, and had lost a great many men. General Oglesby was wounded, and General Hackleman was killed.
Very early on the following morning the opening of fire from the enemy’s artillery gave indications of a very hard fight to come.
At seven o’clock the heads of the rebel column were seen, emerging from the woods in front of the Union forces, and slowly bearing down upon their centre—first on Davis, next on Stanley, and last on Hamilton. The rebel force was so overpowering that the jaded and worn troops of the Union fell back before it. A contemporary correspondent describing this portion of the battle on the 4th, writes as follows: “It was perhaps half-past nine o’clock when the bitter tragedy began to develop in earnest. A prodigious mass, with gleaming bayonets, suddenly loomed out, dark and threatening on the east of the railroad, moving sternly up the Bolivar road in column by divisions. Directly it opened out in the shape of a monstrous wedge, and drove forward impetuously toward the heart of Corinth. It was a splendid target for our batteries, and it was soon perforated. Hideous gaps were rent in it, but those massive lines were closed almost as soon as they were torn open. At this period the skilful management of General Rosecrans began to develop. It was discovered that the enemy had been enticed to attack precisely at the point where the artillery could sweep them with direct, cross and enfilading fire. He had prepared for such an occasion. Our shell swept through the mass with awful effect, but the brave rebels pressed onward inflexibly. Directly the wedge opened and spread out magnificently, right and left, like great wings, seeming to swoop over the whole field before them. But there was a fearful march in front. A broad turfy glacis, sloping upward at an angle of thirty degrees to a crest fringed with determined, disciplined soldiers, and clad with terrible batteries, frowned upon them. There were a few obstructions—fallen timber—which disordered their lines a little. But every break was instantly welded. Our whole line opened fire, but the enemy, seemingly insensible to fear, or infuriated by passion, bent their necks downward and marched steadily to death, with their faces averted like men striving to protect themselves against a driving storm of hail. The Yates and Burgess sharpshooters, lying snugly behind their rude breastworks, poured in a destructive fire, but it seemed no more effectual than if they had been firing potato-balls, excepting that somebody was killed. The enemy still pressed onward undismayed. At last they reached the crest of the hill in front and to the right of Fort Richardson, and General Davies’s division gave way. It began to fall back in disorder. General Rosecrans, who had been watching the conflict with eagle eye, and who is described as having expressed his delight at the trap into which General Price was blindly plunging, discovered the break and dashed to the front, inflamed with indignation. He rallied the men by his splendid example in the thickest of the fight. Before the line was demoralized he succeeded in restoring it, and the men, brave when bravely led, fought again. But they had yielded much space, and the loss of Fort Richardson was certain. Price’s right moved swiftly to the headquarters of General Rosecrans, took possession of it, and posted themselves under cover of the portico of the house, and behind its corners, whence they opened fire upon our troops on the opposite side of the public square. Seven rebels were killed within the little inclosure in front of the General’s cottage. The structure is a sort of sieve now—bullets have punctured it so numerously. But the desperate men got no further into town.
“Battle was raging about Fort Richardson. Gallant Richardson, for whom it was named, fought his battery well. Had his supports fought, as his artillerymen did, the record would have been different. The rebels gained the crest of the hill, swarmed around the little redoubt, and were swept away from it as a breath will dissipate smoke. Again they swarmed like infuriated tigers. At last a desperate dash with a yell. Richardson goes down to rise no more. His supports are not at hand. The foe shouts triumphantly and seizes the guns. The horses are fifty yards down the hill toward Corinth. A score of rebels seize them. The Fifty-sixth Illinois suddenly rises from cover in the ravine. One terrible volley, and there are sixteen dead artillery horses, a dozen dead rebels. Illinois shouts, and charges up the hill, across the plateau into the battery. The rebels fly out through embrasures and around the wings. The Fifty-sixth yells again and pursues.
“The rebels do not stop. Hamilton’s veterans, meantime, have been working quietly—no lung-work, but gun-work enough. A steady stream of fire tore the rebel ranks to pieces. When Davies broke it was necessary for all to fall back. General Rosecrans thought it well enough to get Price in deeply. A rebel soldier says Van Dorn sat on his horse grimly and saw it all. ‘That’s Rosecrans’s trick,’ said he; ‘he’s got Price where he must suffer.’ Maybe this is one of the apocrypha of battle. A rebel soldier says it’s true. But Hamilton’s division receded under orders—at backward step, slowly, grimly, face to the foe, and firing. But when the Fifty-sixth Illinois charged, this was changed. Davies’ misfortune had been remedied. The whole line advanced. The rebel host was broken. A destroying Nemesis pursued them. Arms were flung away wildly. They ran to the woods. They fled into the forests. Oh! what a shout of triumph and what a gleaming line of steel followed them. It is strange, but true. Our men do not often shout before battle. Heavens! what thunder there is in their throats after victory. ‘They’’ report that such a shout was never before heard in Corinth. Price’s once ‘invincible’’ now invisible legions were broken, demoralized, fugitive, and remorselessly pursued down the hill, into the swamps, through the thickets, into the forests. Newly disturbed earth shows where they fell and how very thickly.”