The Darkest Days of the War- the Battles of Iuka and Corinth

by Peter Cozzens

  2 OR i7(i):268, 386; Curtis Diary, 11-12, OHS; Hubbell, “Diary,” 100; John Tyler to William L. Yancey, October 15, 1862, WHMC-Columbia.

  3 Warner, Generals in Blue, 81, 347; Trowbridge, “Saving a General,” 20, 22; Chetlain, Recollections, 71; Cozzens, “’Poor Little Ninth,’” 34, 43-44; John Tyler to William L. Yancey, October 15, 1862, WHMC-Columbia; Chamberlin, Eighty- first Ohio, 27; OR 17(1): 386.

  4 Wright, Corporal’s Story, 58; OR 17(1): 252-53, 268, 283; Griscom, Fighting with Ross’ Texas Cavalry, 44; Nelson Memoirs, 23, and Carlisle Journal, 81, both in CWMC; Hubbell, “Diary,” 100; Anderson, Memoirs, 232; William McCurdy to Mrs. A. F. Dantzler, October 11, 1862, Dantzler Letters, DU.

  5 OR i7(i):282-83; Morrison, Ninth Illinois, 38-39; Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 148-49; Fauntleroy, “Elk Horn to Vicksburg,” 34; Payne, “Sixth Missouri,” 464.

  6 McKee Diary, October 3, 1862, CWMC; OR 17(1):276, 280; Bell, Tramps and Triumphs, 12.

  7 Colwell, “Infantryman at Corinth,” 10-11; OR 17(1):253; Chamberlin, Eighty- first Ohio, 27; Wright, Corporal’s Story, 59.

  8 OR 17(1): 253-54, 386; Wright, Corporal’s Story, 59.

  9 OR 17(1): 43 3-34; Fauntleroy, “Elk Horn to Vicksburg,” 34; Payne, “Sixth Missouri,” 464; Anderson, Memoirs, 232.

  10 Maury, “Campaign against Grant,” 295; Warner, Generals in Gray, 219; Ralph J.Smith, Reminiscences, 10; Horton, “Battery F,” 2, Horton Manuscripts, NMMA; OR i7(i):290, 344, 354, 357, 398.

  11 OR i7(i):35o, 354, 357, 377; Christie, “Hot Times”; “Correspondence of Wisconsin Volunteers,” 5:162, Quiner Papers, WiHS.

  12 OR 17(1):293-94, 337, 344> 348-50, 355, 398; Cluett, Fifty-seventh Illinois, 41; Hubert, Fiftieth Illinois, 133; Anders, Twenty-first Missouri, 100; John Tyler to William L. Yancey, October 15, 1862, WHMC-Columbia; Duncan, Recollections, 89-90.

  13 OR 17(1): 344, 351, 398, 426; Zearing, “Letters,” 162; Anders, Twenty-first Missouri, 101; Duncan, Recollections, 89-90; Hubert, Fiftieth Illinois, 133; Daniel Leib Ambrose, Seventh Illinois, 96.

  14 OR 17(1):344, 351; Throne, Boyd Diary, 71; Anders, Twenty-first Missouri, 101.

  15 Hubert, Fiftieth Illinois, 134; Duncan, Recollections, 89-90.

  16 OR 17(1):293, 295, 297, 337-38, 344, 348; Cluett, Fifty-seventh Illinois, 41; Anders, Twenty-first Missouri, 101; Daniel Leib Ambrose, Seventh Illinois, 96; Adams Journals, 1:30, IaU.

  17 Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, 255, 258, 263; Warner, Generals in Blue, 102.

  18 Belknap, Fifteenth Iowa, 210; OR 17(1):359, 362, 364; Throne, Boyd Diary, 71; Adams Journals, 1130, IaU; Parkhurst, “Attack,” 173.

  19 Parkhurst, “Attack,” 174-75; Throne, Boyd Diary, 71-72; Adams Journals, 1:30, IaU; 01? 17(i):337-38, 359.

  20 OR 17(1) 1264, 394, 397; Throne, Boyd Diary, 72; Parkhurst, “Attack,” 176-77; Duncan, Recollections, 91; Belknap, Fifteenth Iowa, 211.

  21 Throne, Boyd Diary, j2-jy, Belknap, Fifteenth Iowa, 211; OR 17(1):359, 364, 398; Horton, “Battery F,” 2, Horton Manuscripts, NMMA; Adams Journals, 1:30, IaU.

  22 OR 17(1) = 398, 405, 419, 426; John Tyler to William L. Yancey, October 15, 1862, WHMC-Columbia; Duncan, Recollections, 91; Mansfield Lovell to his wife, October 1, 1862, Lovell Papers, HL.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  1 William S. Rosecrans to Ulysses S. Grant, October 3, 1862, Rosecrans Papers, UCLA.

  2 McKee Diary, October 3, 1862, CWMC; Bowen Diary, October 3, 1862, Bowen Papers, HL; OR 17(1): 254-55; Curtis Diary, 12, OHS. For the sake of clarity I have referred to the two adjacent fields east of the Chewalla road as the east White House fields; that west of the road, as the west White House field.

  3 OR i7(i):254-55, 269, 299; Bowen Diary, October 3, 1862, Bowen Papers, HL; Franklin B. Reed to Lemuel C. Reed, October 20, 1862, Reed Letters, IaHS; Wright, Corporal’s Story, 59-60; Bell, Tramps and Triumphs, 12; Reed, Twelfth Iowa, 85; Soper, “Company D,” 136-37.

  4 OR 17(1):255, 288; Bowen Diary, October 3, 1862, Bowen Papers, HL; Nelson Memoirs, 24, CWMC; Colwell, “Infantryman at Corinth,” 11.

  5 Wright, Corporal’s Story, 59-60; Bell, Tramps and Triumphs, 12.

  6 OR 17(1): 168, 254-57; Hamilton, “Hamilton’s Division,” 757.

  7 Hamilton, “Hamilton’s Division,” 757; OR i7(i):205, 213, 216, 227; Alonzo L. Brown, Fourth Minnesota, 127.

  8 Ducat, Memoirs, 27, 32-33; Hamilton and Ducat, Correspondence, 6, 10; Arthur C. Ducat to William Starke Rosecrans, December 29, 1880, Rosecrans Papers, UCLA; Alonzo L. Brown, Fourth Minnesota, 127.

  9 “Rosecrans’s Campaigns,” in Report of the Joint Committee, 3:21; Arthur C. Ducat to William Starke Rosecrans, December 29, 1880, Rosecrans Papers, UCLA.

  10 OR 17(1): 179, 197, 183; William Starke Rosecrans to David Sloane Stanley, October 3, 1862, Rosecrans Papers, UCLA; Charles H. Smith, Fuller’s Ohio Brigade, 82; Rosecrans, “Battle of Corinth,” 746; Bryner, Bugle Echoes, 58.

  11 Arthur C. Ducat to William Starke Rosecrans, December 29,1880, Rosecrans Papers, UCLA; Ducat, Memoirs, 32-33; OR 17(1): 168; Hamilton and Ducat, Correspondence, 11; “Rosecrans’s Campaigns,” in Report of the Joint Committee, 3:21.

  12 Cozzens, No Better Place to Die, 16-17; OR 17(1): 213.

  13 Hamilton, “Hamilton’s Division,” 757; Ducat, Memoirs, 33; Arthur C. Ducat to William Starke Rosecrans, December 29, 1880, Rosecrans Papers, UCLA; Rosecrans, “Battle of Corinth,” 747; Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1882.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  1 Maury, “Campaign against Grant,” 295; OR 17(1): 379, 394, 401, 433; John Tyler to William C. Yancey, October 15, 1862, WHMC-Columbia.

  2 Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 149; Hubbell, “Diary,” 100; OR 17(1): 389-90.

  3 OR 17(1): 255, 269, 390; Payne, “Sixth Missouri,” 464; Chamberlin, Eighty-first Ohio, 27; Bowen Diary, October 3, 1862, Bowen Papers, HL; Missouri Republican, June 19, 1886.

  4 Missouri Republican, June 19, 1886; Brown Recollections, 103-4, OHS; Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 149-50; John Tyler to William L. Yancey, October 15, 1862, WHMC-Columbia; Bowen Diary, October 3, 1862, Bowen Papers, HL; Payne, “Sixth Missouri,” 464; OR 17(1):255, 269, 272, 289, 390. Estimates of the length of the cannonade varied from twenty to forty-five minutes.

  5 Thomas W. Sweeny to W. B. Bodye, October 20, 1862, Sweeny Papers, HL; OR 17(1):256, 272-73; John S. Wilcox to his wife, October 9, 1862, Wilcox Papers, ISHL; Missouri Republican, June 19, 1886; Bell, Tramps and Triumphs, 12; Payne, “Sixth Missouri,” 464; John Tyler to William L. Yancey, October 15, 1862, WHMC-Columbia.

  6 Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, 61; OR 17(1):256, 273; Payne, “Sixth Missouri,” 464; Wright, Corporal’s Story, 60.

  7 Thomas W. Sweeny to W. B. Bodye, October 20, 1862, Sweeny Papers, HL; OR i7(i):256, 273, 276.

  8 Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, 59, 61-64; OR 17(1): 256, 273; Payne, “Sixth Missouri,” 464; John Tyler to William L. Yancey, October 15, 1862, WHMC- Columbia.

  9 Chetlain, Recollections, 95; Brown Recollections, 92, OHS; Trowbridge, “Saving a General,” 22; OR 17(1):256, 273.

  10 Franklin B. Reed to Lemuel C. Reed, October 20, 1862, Reed Letters, IaHS; OR 17(1):299; Benner, Sul Ross, 84; Griscom Diary, October 3, 1862, TxU; Soper, “Company D,” 137; Myron Underwood to his wife, October 19, 1862, Underwood Papers, IaU.

  11 OR 17(1): 198-99, 256.

  12 OR 17(1):256, 273; Wright, Corporal’s Story, 60; Chamberlin, Eighty-first Ohio, 27-28; Nelson Memoirs, 25, and Carlisle Journal, 82, both in CWMC; Chetlain, Recollections, 95.

  13 OR 17(1): 197, 201; McLain, “Old Abe,” 407; Fowler, Old Abe, 10-12.

  14 OR i7(i):20i, 207, 256-57, 273, 299; Bell, Tramps and Triumphs, 12-13; Phillips Memoirs, 22-23, CWTI; Bryner, Bugle Echoes, 58.

  15 Gilbert Certificate, CWMC; OR 17(1): 197, 201.

  16 Hubbell, “Diary,” 100; Kavanaugh Memoirs, 44, WHMC-Columbia; Anderson, Memoirs, 233; Ruyle Memoirs, 9, CWRT; Fauntleroy, “Elk Horn to Vicksburg,” 34; OR 17(1):389.


  17 OR 17(1): 197, 199, 201, 203-4, 394; Maury, “Campaign against Grant,” 295; Payne, “Sixth Missouri,” 464; Griscom, Fighting with Ross’ Texas Cavalry, 45; Bryner, Bugle Echoes, 58.

  18 Bryner, Bugle Echoes, 59; OR 17(1): 197-99, 201, 204; McKinney Diary, October 3, 1862, CWTI.

  19 “Correspondence of Wisconsin Volunteers,” 4:123, 127, Quiner Papers, WiHS; OR 17(1): 203; J. H. Greene, Reminiscences, 31.

  20 Bradley, Confederate Mail Carrier, 72.

  21 Van Eman, “Bloody Robinett”; Charles H. Smith, Fuller’s Ohio Brigade, 82; OR 17(I):247.

  22 OR 17(1): 179-83, 188, 197, 204, 401; Benner, Sul Ross, 85; William C. Holmes, “Corinth,” 292; Anderson, Memoirs, 234; A. B. Monahan to his wife, October 12, 1862, Sixty-third Ohio Infantry File, SNMP; Fuller, “Our Kirby Smith,” 82; Smith and Smith, Colonel Gilbert, 114.

  23 John Tyler to William L. Yancey, October 15, 1862, and Kavanaugh Memoirs, 45, both in WHMC-Columbia.

  24 John Tyler to William L. Yancey, October 15, 1862, WHMC-Columbia; OR i7(i):433~35; Maury, “Campaign against Grant,” 295; Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 337-38.

  25 Anderson, Memoirs, 233.

  26 OR 17(1): 399, 404, 419, 427; William C. Holmes, “Corinth,” 292.

  27 OR 17(1):405; Judge Morse to Mansfield Lovell, October 27, 1862, Lovell Papers, HL; Maury, “Campaign against Grant,” 297-98.

  28 Ducat, Memoirs, 33; Rosecrans, “Battle of Corinth,” 747; William Starke Rosecrans to Charles S. Hamilton, October 3, 1862, Rosecrans Papers, UCLA.

  29 Hamilton, “Hamilton’s Division,” 758; Hamilton and Ducat, Correspondence, 11; Ducat, Memoirs, 34.

  30 Ducat, Memoirs, 33-34; Hamilton, “Hamilton’s Division,” 758; OR 17(1):205, 207, 227, 230; Alonzo L. Brown, Fourth Minnesota, 119.

  31 Hamilton, “Hamilton’s Division,” 758; OR 17(1): 205, 216; Missouri Republican, June 19, 1886; Risedorph Reminiscences, 3-4, Risedorph Papers, MnHS; Hamilton and Ducat, Correspondence, 11.

  32 Alonzo L. Brown, Fourth Minnesota, 127.

  33 OR 17(1):218-19, 2225 Alonzo L. Brown, Fourth Minnesota, 127; Hamilton, “Hamilton’s Division,” 758.

  34 Leonard Brown, American Patriotism, 179; 01? 17(1)1230, 234, 237.

  35 Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 150; Missouri Republican, June 19, 1886; OR 17(1):227, 235, 394, 401.

  36 Rosecrans, “Battle of Corinth,” 747.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  1 Thomas W. Sweeny to his daughter, October 13, 1862, Sweeny Papers, HL; OR 17(1):257, 419; John S. Wilcox to his wife, October 9, 1862, Wilcox Papers, ISHL; Van Eman, “Bloody Robinett”; Hovey Cadman to his wife, October 13, 1862, Cadman Papers, UNC; Daily Toledo Blade, October 14, 1862; Bell, Tramps and Triumphs, 13; Colwell, “Infantryman at Corinth,” 11-12; Kavanaugh Memoirs, 46, WHMC-Columbia; Hittle, “Division of Davies”; Byers, With Fire and Sword, 33-34.

  2 OR 17(1): 177, 257; Trowbridge, “Saving a General,” 22; Chamberlin, Eighty-first Ohio, 30.

  3 “Correspondence of Wisconsin Volunteers,” 5:163, Quiner Papers, WiHS; Colwell, “Infantryman at Corinth,” 12; Byers, With Fire and Sword, 34.

  4 OR 17(I):457.

  5 Hamilton and Ducat, Correspondence, 4-5; Hamilton, “Hamilton’s Division,” 758; Alonzo L. Brown, Fourth Minnesota, 128.

  6 “Rosecrans’s Campaigns,” in Report of the Joint Committee, 3:21; Rosecrans, “Battle of Corinth,” 748; OR 17(1): 170; General Order 151, dated October 25, 1862, Hamilton Papers, IU.

  7 OR i7(1):257, 273, 297, 355; Bell, Tramps and Triumphs, 13; Hubert, Fiftieth Illinois, 137; William H. Tucker, Fourteenth Wisconsin, 10.

  8 OR 17(1)1179, 184, 189; Van Eman, “Bloody Robinett”; Charles H. Smith, Fuller’s Ohio Brigade, 82-83; Fuller, “Our Kirby Smith,” 172; Smith and Smith, Colonel Gilbert, 114.

  9 OR 17(1): 198-200; Gilmore, “63d Ohio”; Lucius F. Hubbard, Minnesota in the Battles of Corinth, 15.

  10 Fuller, “Our Kirby Smith,” 162-68, 172; Stanley, Memoirs, 112-13; Charles H. Smith, Fuller’s Ohio Brigade, 83.

  11 Alonzo L. Brown, Fourth Minnesota, 120; OR 17(1): 169, 206, 215, 219, 220, 225, 230; Bowen Diary, October 4, 1862, Bowen Papers, HL; McCord, “Battle of Corinth”; Milburn, “Reminiscences.”

  12 Rosecrans, “Battle of Corinth,” 748; J. B. Rogers, War Pictures, 195; OR 17(1): 169, 249, 258-59, 266-67, 273> 29J> 297; John A. Duckworth to William Rosser, December 25, 1862, Second Iowa Infantry File, SNMP; Thomas W.Sweeny to W. B. Bodye, October 8, 1862, Sweeny Papers, HL; Hittle, “Division of Davies”; Du Bois, “Journal and Letters,” 50; McCord, “Battle of Corinth,” 577.

  13 William H. Tucker, Fourteenth Wisconsin, 10-11; OR 17(1): 355; Burge Memoirs, 3, CWMC.

  14 OR 17(1): 42 2, 431, 433, and (2) 1719; Gottschalk, In Deadly Earnest, 147; Anderson, Memoirs, 235; Griscom Diary, October 4, 1862, TxU; W. T. Young to Thomas M. Owen, February 12, 1909, Forty-second Alabama Infantry Papers, ADAH.

  15 OR 17(1):436,444, 457.

  16 OR 17(1):379 and (2):719-20; Maury, “Campaign against Grant,” 295; Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 150; Kavanaugh Memoirs, 46, WHMC- Columbia.

  17 Maury, “Campaign against Grant,” 295-96; OR 17(1): 379, 405, 422.

  18 Comte de Paris, Civil War, 2:410; OR 17(1): 394, 405, 422, and (2) 1720; Jackson, Colonel’s Diary, 85.

  19 OR 17(1): 158; Simon, Grant Papers, 6:103-4; Lamers, Edge of Glory 144-45; Ulysses S. Grant, Memoirs, 1:4i6.

  20 Simon, Grant Papers, 6:104-6, 111-13; OR 17(1): 154, 267, 305, 370; Ulysses S. Grant, Memoirs, 1:415-16; Morris, Thirty-first Regiment Volunteers, 49.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  1 Anonymous soldier’s letter, October 13, 1862, Cadman Papers, UNC; Minturn, “Corinth”; OR 17(1): 184, 192.

  2 OR 17(1): 184, 192, 394, 398; McKinstry, “With Rogers”; McCord, “Battle of Corinth.”

  3 Iowa State Register, October 29, 1862; Rosecrans, “Battle of Corinth,” 748-49; Colwell, “Infantryman at Corinth,” 12; Adams, “Battery Robinett”; Strickling Reminiscences, 21, and Kelly Diary, 12, both in OHS; Lucius F. Hubbard, Minnesota in the Battles of Corinth, 20; Kate McConnell to Monroe Sword, October 21, 1862, Sword Papers, DU; OR 17(1):275.

  4 Bryner, Bugle Echoes, 63; Smith and Smith, Colonel Gilbert, 115; Stanley, Memoirs, 109-10; OR 17(1): 184, 192, 194, 247, 394; Maury, “Campaign against Grant,” 295; McCord, “Battle of Corinth,” 578; Arnold, “Corinth,” 199; Daily Toledo Blade, October 14, 1862.

  5 “Correspondence of Wisconsin Volunteers,” 4:122, Quiner Papers, WiHS; Ray Reminiscences, 25, Ray Papers, ArU; OR 17(1): 110, 169; Wright, Corporal’s Story, 63; Soper, “Company D,” 138; Stanley, Memoirs, no.

  6 OR 17(1):390; Columbus Sykes to his wife, August 31, 1862, Sykes Letters, CWMC; Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 235-36.

  7 OR 17(1): 379, 387; Hubbell, “Diary,” 100; Fauntleroy, “Elk Horn to Vicksburg,” 35; Anderson, Memoirs, 235-36.

  8 OR 17(1): 180, 184-85, 198; Jackson, Colonel’s Diary, 70; Arnold, “Corinth,” 199; Van Eman, “Bloody Robinett”; John W. Fuller to David Sloane Stanley, August 23, 1887, West-Stanley-Wright Family Papers, USAMHI; Maury, “Campaign against Grant,” 296.

  9 OR 17(1): 291, 390-91, 401; Kavanaugh Memoirs, 46, WHMC-Columbia.

  10 Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 341; Hubbell, “Diary,” 101; ORI7(I):4°I-

  11 OR 17(1):281; F. W. Dunn to his father, October 14, 1862, Dunn Letters, MiU; Childress Diary, 31, ISHL; OR 17(1) 1249-50; Bargus Diary, October 4, 1862, CWTI.

  12 Payne, “Sixth Missouri,” 465.

  13 Kavanaugh Memoirs, 46-48, 53, WHMC-Columbia; McCord, “Battle of Corinth,” 580; Bailey Reminiscences, 17, Bailey Papers, ArU; OR 17(1): 239-41, 259.

  14 OR 17(1): 267, 291; Daniel Leib Ambrose, Seventh Illinois, 99; Reed, Twelfth Iowa, 86; Bradley, Confederate Mail Carrier, 73; Nelson Memoirs, 27, CWMC.

  15 Thomas W. Sweeny to W. B. Bodye, October 8, 1862, Sweeny Papers, HL; John S. Wilcox to his wife, October 9, 1862, Wilcox Papers, ISHL; Bo
wen Diary, October 4, 1862, Bowen Papers, HL; OR i7(i):259, 274, 277, 285, 289; Lang- worthy, “Corinth”; Colwell, “Infantryman at Corinth,” 13.

  16 OR 17(1):259, 269-71; McCord, “Battle of Corinth,” 580; notes on Federal artillery dispositions, Cockrell Papers, DU.

  17 OR 17(1): 391; Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 156, 341; John S. Wilcox to his wife, October 9, 1862, Wilcox Papers, ISHL; Ruyle Memoirs, 9, CWRT; Hubbell, “Diary,” 101-2; Anderson, Memoirs, 236-37.

  18 OR 17(1):231, 235, 239-40; Hood, “Sixth Wisconsin Battery”; Bartholomew, “Another Defense”; Immell, “Twelfth Wisconsin Battery at Corinth.”

  19 OR 17(1): 259-60; Horton, “Batteries Powell and Williams,” 1-2, Horton Manuscripts, NMMA; Griggs, Opening of the Mississippi, 113; “Correspondence of Wisconsin Volunteers,” 8:36, Quiner Papers, WiHS.

  20 Daniel Leib Ambrose, Seventh Illinois, 99-100; OR i7(i):29i, 293; Bell, Tramps and Triumphs, 13.

  21 Stanley, Memoirs, no; Charles H. Smith, Fuller’s Ohio Brigade, 85-86; Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 341-42; Absalom Dyson to his wife, October 20, 1862, Dyson-Bell-Sans Souci Papers, WHMC-St. Louis.

  22 Will Snyder to his parents, November 25, 1862, NMMA; Fauntleroy, “Elk Horn to Vicksburg,” 35.

  23 OR 17(1):233, 238; Raum, “Corinth”; Frost, Tenth Missouri, 81; Morgan, “Once Was Enough”; Immell, “Twelfth Wisconsin Battery Takes Advantage”; “Correspondence of Wisconsin Volunteers,” 8:336, Quiner Papers, WiHS.

  24 Immell, “Twelfth Wisconsin Battery Takes Advantage.”

  25 “Correspondence of Wisconsin Volunteers,” 8:36, Quiner Papers, WiHS; Frost, Tenth Missouri, 81-82; Raum, “Corinth.”

  26 Bevier, First and Second Missouri Brigades, 154, 342; Hubbell, “Diary,” roi; Anderson, Memoirs, 237; OR 17(1):231, 260, 270, 274, 277; Corsair, “Corinth”; John S. Wilcox to his wife, October 9, 1862, Wilcox Papers, ISHL; Thomas W. Sweeny to W. B. Bodye, October 8, 1862, Sweeny Papers, HL; Raum, “Corinth.”

  27 OR 17(1):215, 219, 220, 222, 225, 391; Tunnard, Southern Record, 192; Neil, Battery at Close Quarters, 17, 19; Byers, “Men in Battle,” 12-13.