In the Battle of Corinth, the Confederates hope to size the railroad junction and then undertake an invasion of Tennessee.
On October 3, 1862, Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn and Maj. Gen. Sterling Price hurled their combined force of 22,000 men against 21,000 Union troops under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans manning works at Corinth.
The Confederate force marched northward and entered Tennessee. Then the cavalry began to destroy the railroads leading to Corinth, thus preventing the rapid reinforcement of the Union troops there.
The coordinates attack by Confederates turned the Union defenders out of extensive earthworks north of Corinth, then drove the Union troops back some two miles into the city’s inner defenses by late afternoon on October 3.
At 6 pm, Van Dorn calls a halt to the day’s fighting, stating that his men were exhausted. Van Dorn is certain victory can be won the following day.
Van Dorn renewed the battle in earnest the next morning, but after initial gains his troops succumbed to exhaustion, thirst and a well times Union counterattack that decisively frustrated the Confederate effort.
Van Dorn is forced to abandon the field. By early afternoon, Union troops were cutting up the Southerners all along the line, and the Confederates withdrew southward to Ripley. Rosecrans however failed to pursue.
In two days bloody battle of Corinth, Union forces suffered some of 2,500 casualties, while the Confederates lost 2460 killed or wounded and another 1763 missing or deserted in the withdrawal to Ripley.
Van Dorn was forced to undergo a court of inquiry, including a charge of being drunk during the battle, but he was ultimately exonerated.
Rosecrans is lauded in the Northern press, and on October 23 U.S President Abraham Lincoln rewards him with command of XIV Corps.
Battle of Corinth (October 3–4, 1862)
