The excitement died down but on May 21, Colonel Thomas T. Sedgewick led four regiments in a reconnaissance of the Corinth position on the Widow Serratt’s house, where they were assaulted by a small force of Confederate infantry. A lively fight followed, lasting until darkness fell, when the troops retired on Buell’s command. Confederate losses were unknown, but the Federals lost at least one killed and twenty-six wounded.28
The following morning the Southerners countered with a reconnaissance in force, consisting of a battalion-sized cavalry party under N. B. Forrest. The Southerners split into two groups, one party advancing directly on an enemy picket post while the other, led by Colonel Forrest in person, made a flanking movement. The Federals were taken by surprise and routed with several casualties, including a Reverend Dr. Ware and his sorrel stud, captured.29 As Forrest succinctly put it, “I Suceded in gaining thir rear…. they wair not looking for me I taken them by surprise they run like Suns of Biches.”30
The tempo of fighting gradually picked up with increased skirmishing and offensive patrolling on both sides. On May 27, Sherman launched a new attack on a log cabin, serving as a Confederate command post and strong point, in front of his position. Attacking with his own outfit, supported by James Veatch’s and John Logan’s, he moved up straight at and around on both flanks of the strong point. Federal artillery moved up within a few hundred yards of the Confederate position before unleashing a savage fire that literally demolished the building. Sherman’s infantry then stormed the position. Union losses were light, and the Federals soon advanced on other Southern works in the rear of the shattered house. Southern artillery peppered the advancing Northerners, inflicting considerable casualties on Veatch’s brigade. Confederate skirmishers also harried the advance, but the Bluecoats kept up the pressure until they were within three-fourths of a mile of the main Southern works outside Corinth.31
On May 28, almost the entire Federal army began a series of probing attacks on the Corinth works. The Northerners were within approximately four miles of Corinth all along the line of their siege works, and in most places they were less than a mile and a half from the main Confederate fortifications. If they could gain a few more yards of ground, they could bring up the heavy guns for the final bombardment, to be followed by an all-out assault that would capture the rail center, destroy Beauregard’s army, and probably end the war in the Mississippi Valley. It was a nice dream, but it was not to be, for the Confederates were already quietly pulling out southward.
On May 19, Beauregard first began the delicate task of preparing Richmond for the idea of abandoning Corinth. In a clever opening gambit, he informed General Samuel Cooper that since he had received no orders as to what to do at Corinth, he was holding the town and risking a major defeat instead of evacuating and letting the enemy have the town. Having paved the way, the Creole then explained that if by some chance he had to leave the town, that his best line of retreat was along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. He would defend Corinth to the last, unless the government wished him to do otherwise, or if the enemy’s numbers proved overwhelming. Robert E. Lee, acting as President Jefferson Davis’ advisor, answered Beauregard, approving of the suggested line of retreat. Even before Lee’s missive arrived, the Rebels were already milling out of the town.32
On May 25, the Confederate high command met in council. Beauregard proposed an immediate retreat before the enemy isolated the town. General Hardee was especially in favor of an immediate evacuation, and he drew up a lengthy memorandum advocating it.33 Once the evacuation was agreed, it only remained to execute it. Secrecy was vital, and in order to help deceive the enemy, the corps and divisional commanders were to spread the rumor that an attack was being planned. Detailed instructions were issued for everyone, including specific orders on the routes to be used to reach Baldwin, Mississippi. On May 28, Beauregard telegraphed Richmond that he was retreating to Baldwin, where he hoped to be able to turn and smash any pursuers.34
The Creole’s biggest worry was that the Federals would learn of the proposed retreat and attack while his army was half in and half out of the town and fortification. Partly to keep the Federals off balance and partly to keep Halleck’s attention away from the town itself, the Confederates began a series of aggressive attacks on the advancing Federal army on May 28 and 29. On one occasion, Colonel Wesley Winans led the Nineteenth Louisiana in a vigorous charge on a party of attacking Yanks. The Eleventh and Thirteenth Louisiana joined in the fight, finally driving Halleck’s soldiers back.35
The Southern soldiers not engaged were ordered to have their baggage packed and rations cooked and to be ready to move out at a moment’s notice. The sick and wounded were shipped first, and about midday on May 28, the line troops began to move out. On the night of May 29, the last of the Southerners prepared to leave. Parties of men were detailed to keep the campfires burning, while drummers were ordered to stay behind and beat reveille at the usual hour. There were dummy guns posted all along the Confederate works, while an empty train of cars ran back and forth through the town. Occasionally the engineer would let go a loud whistle from his engine, while Rebel demolition parties cheered each time the train stopped to give the Federals the impression that reinforcements were arriving. As the last parties of Southerners left the town, they burned all the nearby bridges and took down the road signs.36
About 5:00 a.m. on the morning of May 30, the Union army heard a series of explosions from Corinth, as the demolition parties blew up some supplies that could not be carried off. Generals Pope and Sherman decided the Rebels were evacuating and ordered patrols to probe the town’s defenses. The patrols found no resistance, and indeed no sign of life except a few Southern soldiers who were too ill to be moved and some rather battered looking civilians.
Gradually the news spread around to the army that the Confederates had gone. One Union regiment informally received the news from an elderly Negro, who wandered into their picket line. He told them, “Dey’s all gone, boss, shuah! … You-uns can jess walk right into de town ef yer wants to!”37
Halleck quickly ordered a pursuit, and Pope and Buell followed Beauregard for about thirty miles before breaking off the chase. Except for some light skirmishing, the Corinth campaign was over. The railroad center was under the Union flag, but little else was achieved, a singularly barren victory. Most of the Union soldiers were not overwhelmed with their prize. Ambrose Bierce described Corinth as “the capitol of a swamp.”38 Neither Corinth nor its female inhabitants caught the fancy of a young disgruntled Yankee. He described the little town as follows:
I don’t now remember that any of the Sixth boys got particularly struck on the place. Nor did I ever hear of any of them deserting the regiment to remain there on account of being captivated by any of Corinth’s tobacco-chewing, snuff-rubbing, flax-haired, sharp-nosed, hatchet-faced, yellow-eyed, sallow-skinned, cotton-dressed, flat-breasted, big-footed, bare-headed, long-waisted, hump-shouldered, stoop-necked, bare-footed, straddle-toed, sharp-shinned, thin-lipped, pale-faced, lantern-jawed, hollow-eyed, silly-looking female damsels.39
The Northerners had taken Corinth, but the escape of Beauregard’s army meant the war was a long way from being over. Halleck thought he had gained a great victory, but Grant and many others believed he had botched the whole affair by permitting the Confederate army to escape.
From Fishing Creek to Corinth, Southerners had suffered a succession of staggering disasters that would be difficult and perhaps impossible to make good. Despite this, the Confederacy in the West was still very much alive and dangerous. The mob that fought at Shiloh was now a dangerous, experienced fighting army capable of quickly shifting over to the offensive once Halleck scattered his grand host across the upper South. After Fort Donelson, Grant and millions of others believed that one more battle would end the Civil War; instead the conflict was only just beginning.
Perryville, Stone’s River, Chickamauga, and a vast array of bloody battles waited in the future for Grant, Sherman, Buell, Hardee, Polk, a
nd all the others to fight.
Appendix 1
Organization of the Confederate Army
Army of the Mississippi
Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston (killed)
Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard
First Army Corps
Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk
First Division
Brig. Gen. Charles Clark (wounded)
Brig. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart
First Brigade
Col. Robert M. Russell, 12th Tennessee
11th Louisiana:
Col. Samuel F. Marks (wounded)
Lieut. Col. Robert H. Barrow
12th Tennessee:
Lieut. Col. Tyree H. Bell
Maj. Robert P. Caldwell
13th Tennessee:
Col. Alfred J. Vaughan, Jr.
22d Tennessee:
Col. Thomas J. Freeman (wounded)
Bankhead’s Tennessee Battery:
Capt. Smith P. Bankhead
Second Brigade
Brig. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart
13th Arkansas:
Lieut. Col. A. D. Grayson (killed)
Maj. James A. McNeely (wounded)
Col. James C. Tappan
4th Tennessee:
Col. Rufus P. Neely
Lieut. Col. Otho F. Strahl
5th Tennessee:
Lieut. Col. Calvin D. Venable
33d Tennessee:
Col. Alexander W. Campbell (wounded)
Stanford’s Mississippi Battery:
Capt. Thomas J. Stanford
Second Division
Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham (wounded)
First Brigade
Brig. Gen. Bushrod R. Johnson (wounded)
Col. Preston Smith, 154th Tennessee (wounded)
Blythe’s Mississippi:
Col. A. K. Blythe (killed)
Lieut. Col. David L. Herron (killed)
Maj. James Moore
2d Tennessee:
Col. J. Knox Walker
15th Tennessee:
Lieut. Col. Robert C. Tyler (wounded)
Maj. John F. Hearn
154th Tennessee (senior):
Col. Preston Smith
Lieut. Col. Marcus J. Wright (wounded)
Polk’s Tennessee Battery:
Second Brigade
Col. William H. Stephens, 6th Tennessee
Col. George Maney, 1st Tennessee
7th Kentucky:
Col. Charles Wickliffe (mortally wounded)
Lieut. Col. William D. Lannom
1st Tennessee (Battalion):
Col. George Maney
Maj. Hume R. Field
6th Tennessee:
Lieut. Col. Timothy P. Jones
9th Tennessee:
Col. Henry L. Douglass
Smith’s Mississippi Battery:
Capt. Melancthon Smith
Cavalry
1st Mississippi:
Col. Andrew J. Lindsay
Mississippi and Alabama Battalion:
Lieut. Col. Richard H. Brewer
Unattached
47th Tennessee:
Col. Munson R. Hill
(arrived on field April 7)
Second Army Corps
Maj. Gen. Braxton Bragg
Escort
Company Alabama Cavalry, Capt. Robert W. Smith
First Division
Brig. Gen. Daniel Ruggles
First Brigade
Col. Randall L. Gibson, 13th Louisiana
1st Arkansas:
Col. James F. Fagan
4th Louisiana:
Col. Henry W. Allen (wounded)
Lieut. Col. Samuel E. Hunter
13th Louisiana:
Maj. Anatole P. Avegno (mortally wounded)
Capt. Stephen O’Leary (wounded)
Capt. Edgar M. Dubroca
19th Louisiana:
Col. Benjamin L. Hodge
Lieut. Col. James M. Hollingsworth
Vaiden or Bain’s Mississippi Battery:
Capt. S. C. Bain
Second Brigade
Brig. Gen. Patton Anderson
1st Florida Battalion:
Maj. Thaddeus A. McDonell (wounded)
Capt. W. G. Poole
Capt. W. Capers Bird
17th Louisiana:
Lieut. Col. Charles Jones (wounded)
20th Louisiana:
Col. August Reichard
Confederate Guards Response Battalion:
Maj. Franklin H. Clack
9th Texas:
Col. Wright A. Stanley
Washington (Louisiana) Artillery, Fifth Company:
Capt. W. Irving Hodgson
Third Brigade
Col. Preston Pond, Jr., 16th Louisiana
16th Louisiana:
Maj. Daniel Gober
18th Louisiana:
Col. Alfred Mouton (wounded)
Lieut. Col. Alfred Roman
Crescent (Louisiana) Regiment:
Col. Marshall J. Smith
Orleans Guard (Louisiana) Battalion:
Maj. Leon Querouze (wounded)
38th Tennessee:
Col. Robert F. Looney
Ketchum’s Alabama Battery:
Capt. William H. Ketchum
Cavalry
Alabama Battalion
(5 companies-Jenkins, Cox, Robins, Tomlinson, and Smith)
Capt. Thomas F. Jenkins
Second Division
Brig. Gen. Jones M. Withers
First Brigade
Brig. Gen. Adley H. Gladden (mortally wounded)
Col. Daniel W. Adams (wounded), 22d Alabama
Col. Zach C. Deas
21st Alabama:
Lieut. Col. Stewart W. Cayce
Maj. Frederick Stewart
22d Alabama:
Col. Zach C. Deas
Lieut. Col. John C. Marrast
25th Alabama:
Col. John Q. Loomis (wounded)
Maj. George D. Johnston
26th Alabama:
Lieut. Col. John G. Coltart (wounded)
Lieut. Col. William D. Chadick
1st Louisiana:
Col. Daniel W. Adams
Maj. Fred H. Farrar, Jr.
Robertson’s Alabama Battery:
Capt. Felix H. Robertson
Second Brigade
Brig. Gen. James R. Chalmers
5th Mississippi:
Col. Albert E. Fant
7th Mississippi:
Lieut. Col. Hamilton Mayson
9th Mississippi:
Lieut. Col. William A. Rankin (mortally wounded)
10th Mississippi:
Col. Robert A. Smith
52d Tennessee:
Col. Benjamin J. Lea
Gage’s Alabama Battery:
Capt. Charles P. Gage
Third Brigade
Brig. Gen. John K. Jackson
17th Alabama:
Lieut. Col. Robert C. Fariss
18th Alabama:
Col. Eli S. Shorter
19th Alabama:
Col. Joseph Wheeler
2d Texas:
Col. John C. Moore
Lieut. Col. William P. Rogers
Maj. Hal G. Runnels
Girardey’s Georgia Battery:
Capt. Isadore P. Girardey
Cavalry
Clanton’s Alabama Regiment:
Col. James H. Clanton (wounded)
Third Army Corps
Maj. Gen. William J. Hardee (wounded)
First Brigade
Brig. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman (disabled),
commanding his own and Third Brigade
Col. R. G. Shaver, 7th Arkansas (disabled)
2d Arkansas:
Col. Daniel C. Govan
Maj. Reuben F. Harvey
Col. Alexander T. Hawthorn
7th Arkansas:
Lieut. Col. John M. Dean (killed)
Maj. James T.
Martin
3d Confederate:
Col. John S. Marmaduke
Warren Light Artillery or Swett’s Mississippi Battery:
Capt. Charles Swett
Pillow’s Flying Artillery or Miller’s Tennessee Battery:
Capt. William Miller
Second Brigade
Brig. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne
15th Arkansas:
Lieut. Col. Archibald K. Patton (killed)
6th Mississippi:
Col. John J. Thornton (wounded)
Lieut. Col. W. A. Harper
2d Tennessee:
Col. William B. Bate (wounded)
Lieut. Col. David L. Goodall
5th (35th) Tennessee:
Col. Benjamin J. Hill
23d Tennessee:
Lieut. Col. James F. Neill (wounded)
Maj. Robert Cantrell
24th Tennessee:
Lieut. Col. Thomas H. Peebles
Shoup’s Battalion
Trigg’s (Austin) Arkansas Battery:
Capt. John T. Trigg
Calvert’s (Helena) Arkansas Battery:
Capt. J. H. Calvert
Hubbard’s Arkansas Battery:
Capt. George T. Hubbard
Third Brigade
Brig. Gen. Sterling A.M. Wood (disabled)
Col. William K. Patterson, 8th Arkansas, temporarily
16th Alabama:
Lieut. Col. John W. Harris
8th Arkansas:
Col. William K. Patterson
9th (14th ) Arkansas (battalion):
Maj. John H. Kelly
3d Mississippi Battalion:
Maj. Aaron B. Hardcastle
27th Tennessee :
Col. Christopher H. Williams (killed)
Maj. Samuel T. Love (killed)
44th Tennessee:
Col. Coleman A. McDaniel
55th Tennessee:
Col. James L. McKoin
Harper’s (Jefferson Mississippi) Battery:
Capt. William L. Harper (wounded)
Lieut. Putnam Darden
Georgia Dragoons:
Capt. Isaac W. Avery
Reserve Corps
Brig. Gen. John C. Breckinridge
First Brigade
Col. Robert P. Trabue, 4th Kentucky
(Clifton’s) 4th Alabama Battalion:
Maj. James M. Clifton
31st Alabama:
Lieut. Col. Montgomery Gilbreath
3d Kentucky:
Lieut. Col. Benjamin Anderson (wounded)
4th Kentucky:
Lieut. Col. Andrew R. Hynes (wounded)