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there. Gen. Rosecrans was sent by a southern route to attack Price at Iuka, while Gen. Ord went by a northern route to intercept the retreat. Bad roads and imperfect maps of the country prevented a simultaneous attack. Rosecrans's division of 9,000 met the enemy near Iuka, and in an engagement in which each side lost about eight hundred men he succeeded in defeating the force under Price. During the night the Confederates made their escape, and formed a junction with Van Dorn.

Gen. Grant had counted on the destruction of Price's army. As it was, Iuka was a victory without much gain. Rosecrans returned to Corinth after this engagement, and Grant moved his headquarters to Jackson. The enemy under Van Dorn, having failed in the attempt to get possession of Corinth by strategy, determined to take it by assault, and recover northern Mississippi to the Confederacy.

BATTLE OF CORINTH, OCTOBER 3-4, 1862.-Gen. Grant had under his command at various points about forty-eight thousand men. Of these, 7,000 were under Sherman at Memphis, 12,000 under Ord at Bolivar, 23,000 under Rosecrans at Corinth, and 6,000 at Grant's headquarters in Jackson.

While occupying a position at Corinth, Rosecrans was attacked by Generals Price and Van Dorn, in command of a Confederate force numbering 38,000 men. On the 3d, the engagement consisted of skirmishing, and fragmentary charges and repulses on both sides, with the advantage in favor of the Confederates. The next day witnessed a ferocious struggle. The

enemy made three furious attempts to capture Robinette's battery, which had already inflicted heavy damage upon them. Each time they were repulsed with great loss. In the third charge the Confederate banner was twice placed on the parapet and twice shot away. Col. Rogers of the Second Texas sprang upon the embankment with colors in his hand. In an instant he and five others who followed him fell, mortally wounded.

The defeat of the enemy became complete. from Corinth in disorder.

They retired

On the 5th the retreating foe was struck by Hurlbut and Ord, at the crossing of Hatchie river, about ten miles from Corinth. They were again thrown into confusion, but by maneuvering they made good their escape.

The Union loss was 2,359 in killed, wounded, and missing. The enemy lost about three thousand killed and wounded, besides 2,225 prisoners.

Soon after his defeat at Corinth, Van Dorn was superseded by Gen. Pemberton, and Rosecrans was promoted to Buell's command. Gen. Grant began preparations to move upon the only remaining stronghold of the enemy in the Southwest-Vicksburg.

CHAPTER VII.

THE OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

THE CONFEDERATE LINE OF DEFENSE MOVES SOUTH.-When the Civil War commenced, the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Ohio to the Gulf, fell into the hands of the Confederates. Every effort was exerted by them to retain this great commercial highway. As the Confederate line of defense fell back before the advancing columns of Grant's victorious veterans, from Donelson to Shiloh, from Shiloh to Corinth, and from Corinth to Vicksburg, so all places on the upper Mississippi dwindled and faded away before the combined movement of the land and naval forces. With the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson came the abandonment of Columbus; with the Confederate defeat at Shiloh came the surrender of Island No. 10; with the evacuation of Corinth came the abandonment of Fort Pillow. New Orleans and Vicksburg were the only places on the river that offered serious resistance to the Union forces. All other places above Vicksburg were weakened as the Confederate line of defense was pushed southward, and thus they were abandoned, or fell an easy prey to the assailing forces. The following pages in this chapter will narrate the events of the struggle for the opening of the "Father of Waters."

COLUMBUS ABANDONED, MARCH 4, 1862.-Commodore Foote collected a flotilla at Cairo, apparently for use at Nashville.

When all was ready, he drifted down the Mississippi to Columbus, followed by troops on transports under Gen. William T. Sherman, while a supporting force moved overland from Paducah, under Gen. Cullum.

Columbus, Ky., was a Confederate stronghold, commanding the navigation of the Mississippi. Gen. Leonidas Polk, Episcopal bishop of Louisiana, was in command. He abandoned the city before the Union troops arrived, and fell back to the stronger defenses of Island No. 10.

FALL OF NEW MADRID (MARCH 14) AND ISLAND No. 10 (APRIL 7).—The islands of the Mississippi are numbered from the mouth of the Ohio river down to the Gulf. Island No. 10 lay in a sharp bend in the Mississippi, about thirty miles below Columbus, Miss. New Madrid, on the Missouri side, is a few miles farther down-stream, though on account of the great bend in the river it lies northwest of the island.

The opening of the Mississippi was one of the objective points of the Federals. To resist this purpose the Confederates had strongly fortified Island No. 10. Forty guns had been mounted. Gen. Beauregard was in command, but he left for Corinth, April 5th, and transferred his command to Gen. Makall.

Gen. John Pope, who commanded in eastern Missouri, appeared before New Madrid with some 20,000 men, while Commodore Foote was preparing a fleet to assail Island No. 10 from the north. He intrenched three regiments at Point Pleasant, to command the passage of the river directly back of Island No. 10, and sent to Cairo for large siege guns to bombard New

Madrid. Gen. McCown, seeing the danger of capture, aban

doned the place at night during a heavy thunder-storm, and re

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moved his troops to Island No. 10, leaving most of their equipage

in camp.

About the time of the surrender of New Madrid, Commodore Foote left Cairo with a fleet of seven ironclads and other boats for the purpose of aiding Gen. Pope in his attack on Island

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