The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-06-26
Halleck,s Campaign aEairsS D 1es n
jan Dns ;D9Y9o1 reeartl.a DhD D''''i

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The public viii not soo on forget 'ae rs
generous taunt Of HAIIEoK Iaga la No
C1z14As, that, on taking ,ldJ cppmapd q the
Army Of the, Potomse, sfteroit had been
beaten and demoralizeda under PoP rE its
progress was at the rate Of only six *, miles
q, day. Considering that every depart
me snt of the army was disorganized, and
that it had to be put in fighting trim on
the march; considering too, that it accom-
pIished the purpose, not only of defending
Washington, but Of, administering q ter
ribe defeat to the rebels at .Antietam the
gratuitous, offensive taunt of HA1LEeKs
stands almost alone as specimen ofheart-
less malice. It brought to mind HAL
Locks own progress from Shiloh to Cor
inth, in which, q after q decisive victory
had been gained, he was six or seven
weeks moving his army as many miles; ;
and, at last arrived at the latter place only
to find BEAUREGARD safely away, bag and
baggage.
1t is now turning out to be true, as, was
then generally supposed, that, had HAL
LEoK allowed his force to move forward,
the rebel army of the Southwest would
have been captured or annihilated. A re-
bel officer, who at that time was at Co.
rinth, has been writing his experiences,
and from these we extract the following {:
Nv regiment reached Corinth, Mississippi,
about one week after the battle of Shiloh, and
the six or seven weeks which elapsed between
that time and Beauregard's famous retreat will
long be remembered by that portion of the
army as one of the most remarkable passages
in the history of the war. -.
1t was in the months of April and May, the
rainy season, and owing to the peculiar nature
of the soil, the mud was intolerable. The sol
der had not where to lay his head, except in
mud-np plank-no straw. The whole army
was sick. All the transportation that could be
commanded on the Mobile and Ohio, and Men,
phis and Charleston Railroad, was employed in
taking the sick to interior hospitals, and almost
every available shelter in Corinth was filled
with those who could not be sent off. If Beau
regards army was not completely whipped at
Shiloh, the work was certainly completed at
Corinth, or at least it would have been very
easily, for there has never been more dispir-
lieu OF ulSOTyaHIZeu HOD-it Couiu uoG oC
called an army--than the one then wallowing
in the mud before Gen. Halleck.
Had the latter marched directly on Corinth
with any considerable force, instead of waiting
to approach it by parallels, the Army of the
Mississippi, as it was then called, would have
been annihilated. Beauregard knew this, but
he knew also the manner of the enemy's ap-
proach; hence he waited, that the roads might
get better, until he saw that the wary and eau
tious Halleck Was about ready to make the at
tack, and having made every preparation him
self for that event, he succeeded most admiri-
bly, in taking his men out of the way. ~.
The sutferings endured on that retreat OF
fifty miles will never be read in history. The
QuartermBsters train had started two days in
advance of the troops with six days rations,
leaving the army with two days rations in hav-
ersacks And who ever. caught up with the
Quartermaster's train on retreat that had two
days the start? The retreat was not made to
Tupelo all at once. A portion of the army en-
camped awhile at Baldwin, thirty miles from
Corinth, and again at Saltillo. ten miles further
on. We were constantly expecting Halleck's
army upon US; but we neither saw nor heard
of them, except an occasional cavalry skirmish
far in the rear