The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-01-29
THE BATTLE OF CCR|NIH.
VETERAN DESCRIBES SOME SCENES
OF THE GREAT sTRIGGLE-
The Fierce Fight IN the Hill, "here
Man to Man rnd Face tn Face the
Opposing Forces Grappsed With
the Energy of DesreratiOa.

At the meeting Of the Washington Com
u.andery Military Order Of the Loyal Le-
gsss last week the assembled yeter-
ans xere regaIea with an interesting ac-
count II the Union victory at Corintn In
Getoser. fss2 told by one whose position
enab le3 him 10 witness many Of the MEM
oraBEe scenes ~ that great struggle TX
Was DR. T.. II. Young who told the story
II was read from manuscript, and was as
follows.
TO one who was a participant in the
Miss At the tine OF the great battle OF
October J and I, is6-. there u muen tnat
seesns Like some fnofztrous nightmare.
n q give In detail the causes ana move
menss that led Up % this battle would con-
SINE too much time, synopsis VIII he
saf.nlent. Matters had beer comparative
Isl quiet for some months. Price and Van
Dorm were la Northern Mississippi, each
81 command u about ls,w1 men: while
Grant had ali told about Z3.sa neD-0adly
.eattfred OF these KosecraEs had for
duty at coFinth not far from 1890 men.
GONE authorities place MS force as high as
Is.O08
n his would probably be nearly correct
but for the losses Of Hamiiton's division at
JAka two weeks before.
EARLY in September Price moved from
Tapelc TO Inks, which place ne occupied
without much resistance on September IA.
Here he learned that kosecraBs was be
;ysesn the tso points. iuka and Gorinih,
when he "A GneE sent a Dispatch 10 Van
born 10 join him. when they would as
sumo the offensive and attack corsnth.
During this time Grant, who was watch
Ing these movements, ordered Rosecrans
10 attack iuka from the south. while he
with ord would attack from the north.
and thus crush Price before Van Dorm
could join him.
These movements resulted I'm the hard
fought. but unslecissve battle of iuka. Sep
tember - ist2. where the losses were
about equal but when Kosecrans did not
lose the battery which Grant in his Me-
Eleventh Ohio battery did lose ~ per cent
Of its men ia killed and wounded. The guns
we're saved and used effectively at Cor
iath two weeks later.
Van Dorm now In command of the COM
bned forces of his own corps with those of
Price and tiiiip.gne. decided TO move rap
idly upon and IL possible capture Corinth
BY surprise, his ultimate object being TO
force Grant back into Kentucky, rejoin
Bragg ard recover what had been lost
during the campaign earlier IN the year
from Fort Henry to carinth.
Van Dofns forward movements began
from Iocahontas. twenty miles northwest
from CoTinth. On the Isl OF October, and at
10 o'clock on the morning of the 5rd the
two armies were confronting each other in
line Of battle.
''onr lines were Just inside the old Con-
fcderate works erected about the time OF
the battle OF Shiion. and which mad been
used SO successfully In May. 1862 against
~ extensive 10 hold sU.Ue1 men. and Ii
seemed TO as the sheerest nonsense to at
not to exceed if.a"o men. We had an inside
line OF works. but they were SO far in that
the town was exposed TO the full force of
the Confederate fire.
'''rhe brigade to which our regiment the
Fourth Minnesota. was attached consist
cd Of the Fourth Minnesota, the Twenty
sixth Missouri Forty-eighth Indiana,
Fifth Iowa. the Fifty-ninth indiana infan-
Try and the Eleventh Ohio battery. The
latter organization had been filled up with
details from the infantry regiments of the
4
after its fearful losses at the battle of iuka
two weeks before, when this brigade.
known az the First brigade OF Hamilton's
division. had sustained seven-eighths of
the wheie Union loss IN the action.
IT was badly crippled III effective
strength, and as Q consequence was placed
on koSeerans extreme right, where Ii was
supposed the pressure would be least.
We had hardly gotten into position
when the firing began on our left and cen
ter. gradually shifting around to the front
of our position. when IL became Il continu-
ous roar of musketry sharply accentu-
ated by the rapid detonations of the light
,Napoieons and Rodmans OF the field artil-
lery y,,,.u 49,
upon our right. which he supposed had
been weakened TO strengthened The points
hrst attacked. the blow feil upon cur bril-
gaze
we were forced back a short distance.
when counter charge was ordered Here
occurred one of those little incidents which
sometimes change the fate of a battle. We
were charging down the Hill over an old
camp ground. overgrown with weeds and
fuil q roles. INTO which someone was con-
tinnafly falling. when from a bunch Of
weeds spfang "a little rabbit. who started
down the hill with all the speed that
irisht and "A SO q set OF legs could give
him. instantly there was q veil from
every man In sight. the like Of which was
htscr known except when the ohiect was
fabhit THIS yell was taken up and
passed down the line TO the left CARVING
the conviction 10 every one who heard il
that We On the right had won some great
THE Confederate generals. too. were i'm
pressed with the same idea. and halted
thetf advance TO ascertain the extent of
their loss. This delay enabled IA 40 close
up and correci our lines, when darkness
coming OF. we had until morning to per-
feet our preparations. There IL 40 doubt
was defeated: nor that at T. nj. OF the sth he
was the VICTOR after one OF the hardest
fought baths II the century.
VII here give an extract from q let
ter written IS John n. Collins Of the Con
tcdef8tr Fourth Missouri infantry IL re-
lates To the charges and counter charges
on cur center and right that | nave Just
mentioned. and while incorrect In some
minor details. II Is true in the main. lie
says:
!" .sbou; hair way Up The hill the orders
trail arms and double quick'' wer.
aiNen- No enemy VAS in sight. ard alt
concluded ne were maneuvering for posi-
tien- YET Just before reaching the cre@s
The order charge bavanels" was given
The line sprang forward and lust As il
fiom its conceainent and poured a ter
fific Nossey into cur very faces taking Us
by surprise and somewhat staggering the
line. Our less by this are was ttrTiStn
our company loSs over haif ils men by
this voney alone. Yet our line vas onIy
staggered mosneat. We dashed over the
dead and wounded
'The Federal ls..e fell back slowly. fight
Ing every i1ch OF the way. until they Mere
rSiusofesd by their reserves.
The hgh.lag then became terrible
o.: ltle rctoTmea and stoed their cfoIlna
while the fcdegals ftred volley after WI
aey. Neither could ssEn the least rdvan-
tage. The roar 81 sEaal arms swe!&si into
very crashes Of sound. Tae faces ar the
mea were black with powder erifae and
streaksd with sweat.
TIE stubborn sgght lasted more than
an hsuT nvisabcF against neishbor Nls-
souT.an against I4Anegsao ana MgunesDfan
kent8s Khan against Iowan and indAniAn.
Greek had met Greek. AID for A tlrnp II
.~o<ea as 4 hath would nage htea tsfer-
miGaeet. While the nRAting was At las
moot desperate stage the Federal huefcs
were heard &c.nG4nE TIE charge. and a
battery opo1ea on eur left Win canister.
tnuiaciaE aaT iue and creating terrible
havoc tur hnc was compelled To faii
s@eA lke te5eFa.s reinforced advanced
IL the pos tion SO Ata held Waite We Tell