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SUBSEQUENT MOVEMENTS.

rid of her invaders. Everything goes to show that the final retreat of the enemy was suddenly determined on, and that it was not at the time to be calculated on as a matter of course. Any movement on my part solely in anticipation of it would only have turned the enemy in a different direction, and any presumptuous attempt to capture a superior force by detachments would, according to all probabilities, have been more likely to result in defeat than in

success.

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Harrodsburg pike, and the left near Dicksville, on the road converging on Harrodsburg. On the 11th, three brigades from Crittenden's and Gilbert's corps with Gay's and Colonel McCook's cavalry brigades were sent out to reconnoiter the enemy's position. He was found in some force two miles south of Harrodsburg, in the morning; but retired during the day, and his rear guard was driven out in the evening with the loss of some stores, and about 1,200 prisoners, mostly sick and wounded. It was probable he would retire his whole force to Camp Dick Robinson, though it was not certainly ascertained what portion of it had crossed Dick's river. To compel him at once to take one side or the other, and either give battle on this side, or be prevented from recrossing to

was made to turn his position-the left corps moved on the 12th to Harrodsburg (General Sill's division having arrived the night before); the right corps moving forward and retiring near and to the left of Danville, and the centre midway on the Danville and Harrodsburg road, while a strong reconnoissance was sent forward to the crossing of Dick's river. The enemy was found to have crossed with his whole force.

"The effective force which advanced on Perryville, on the 7th, and 8th, under my command, was about 58,000 infantry, artillery and cavalry. Of these, about 22,000 were raw troops, with very little instruction or none at all. The reports show an actual loss of upward of 4,000 killed, wounded and missing in the bat-attack our communications, when a move tle, which would leave the effective force about 54,000 after it. I did not hesitate, therefore, after crossing Chaplin river, and finding the enemy had fallen back, to await the arrival of General Sill's division, which had marched to Frankfort, and had been ordered to join via Lawrenceburg and Chaplintown, when it was ascertained that Kirby Smith's force had marched to form a junction with Bragg. That division on the march from Louisville encountered "The ground between the Kentucky a strong outpost of the enemy on the river and Dick's river, as a military poFrankfort road, about twelve miles out, sition, is rendered almost impregnable and skirmishing was kept up until its on the north and west by the rocky cliffs arrival at Frankfort. It was followed which border those streams, and which closely by the division of General Du- are only passable at a few points, easily mont which remained at Frankfort. In defended. Such is the character of marching from Frankfort to join the Dick's river from its mouth to where the main body, Sill's division was attacked Danville and Lexington road crosses it, near Lawrenceburg by a portion of Kir- a distance of about twelve miles. It by Smith's force, which it drove off, and could only be reached by turning it to then continued its march, arriving at the south, while the passes to the west, Perryville on the evening of the 11th. by which our line of communication Pending its arrival, the army took posi- would be exposed, were suitably guardtion, with its right four miles from Dan- ed. The army was moving with that ville, its centre on the Perryville and view, when I learned, on the evening of the 13th, at Danville, that the enemy was retiring from his position toward the

*The exact number was 916 killed, 2,943 wounded, and 489 missing.

south. Pursuit was immediately ordered for the purpose of overtaking or intercepting him, if he should attempt to pass toward Somerset. General Wood's division marched at twelve o'clock that night and engaged the enemy's cavalry and artillery at Stanford at daylight the next morning. The remainder of General Crittenden's corps and General McCook's corps followed on that road, and General Gilbert's marched on the Lancaster road. The enemy kept the road toward Cumberland Gap, opposing with cavalry and artillery the advance of both of the pursuing columns, which, however, progressed steadily. At Crab Orchard the character of the country suddenly changes. It becomes rough and barren, affording scarcely more than enough corn for its sparse population; and the road passes through defiles where a small force can resist with great effect a large one-where, in fact, the use of a large force is impracticable. The little forage the country afforded was consumed by the enemy in his retreat, rendering it impossible to subsist any considerable number of animals. The corps of Generals Gilbert and McCook were therefore halted at Crab Orchard, while that of General Crittenden, with General W. S. Smith's division in advance, continued the pursuit with judgment and energy as far as London on the direct road, and on the branch road to Manchester. The road was cleared of the trees felled across it by the enemy, and his rear guard attacked successfully at several points. Some prisoners were taken and about three hundred head of cattle, and other property, to no very great amount, captured. It was not expedient to continue the pursuit beyond London; partly, because it was impracticable in a manner to afford any material advantage; partly, because without advantage, it took the troops out of the way, when they were likely to be required elsewhere. They were, therefore, promptly turned upon other routes towards Ten

nessee. A portion were to be at Bowling Green, and the rest at Glasgow on the 31st ult, and thence continue their march by certain routes. In that position I relinquished the command of the army on the 30th to Major-General Rosecrans, in obedience to instructions from the General-in-Chief."

Brigadier-General James S. Jackson, who fell at the battle of Perryville, in the Union ranks, leading his command, was born in Kentucky, a lawyer by profession, and at the outbreak of the rebellion was a member of Congress from his native state. Having raised a regiment and served in the Mexican war, he now offered his military experience to the government for the suppression of the rebellion, resigned his seat in Congress and took command of a regiment of Kentucky cavalry. Brigadier-General William K. Terrill was a native of Virginia, a graduate of West Point of 1853 in the 3d artillery. He was at one time assistant professor of mathematics at the military academy. At the opening of the war he was captain in the 5th artillery. He was appointed brigadiergeneral of volunteers for his meritorious conduct at Shiloh. Colonel Curran Pope of the 15th Kentucky regiment, wounded in this engagement, died of his injuries the following month. He was of an eminent family in Kentucky, a graduate of West Point of 1834, and leaving the army, had been employed as an engineer when the war recalled him to the service of his country.

Such was the pursuit of the forces of General Bragg through a region in which he had fondly hoped to establish a permanent settlement for the Confederacy. He had even gone so far, while in possession of Frankfort, as to inaugurate a new governor, Richard Howes, a representative of the confederate interest, and, a more troublesome exercise of authority, had threatened a conscription for the confederate army. These dreams of empire were necessarily, for the time at

WESTERN TENNESSEE.

least, abandoned when he was driven from the state, but the government of Jefferson Davis continued to claim Kentucky as a member of the confederacy. A more practical advantage was the

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large number of cattle and quantity of provisions which the army of invasion carried away with it, or sent before it, for the replenishment of the impoverished Southern commissariat.

CHAPTER LXXVII.

DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN TENNESSEE.-BATTLES AT IUKA AND CORINTH-SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, 1862.

positions of Colonel Leggett, and "the determined persistent courage" of his men the enemy was effectually repulsed. Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey Hogg, of the 2d Illinois cavalry, fell while gallantly leading a charge. "A braver, truer man, says Colonel Leggett, "never lifted his arm in defence of his country." The Union loss in this contest was five killed, eighteen wounded and sixty-four missing. Colonel Leggett states his force engaged in the action at less than nine hundred, against over 6,000 of the enemy. The loss of the enemy was not known. The next day General Armstrong's force moving northerly toward Jackson, attacked a detachment of Illinois volunteers on the railway at Medon, but reinforcements arriving the enemy was repulsed at that place, and retiring, on the road to Denmark, were again met at Britton's Lane, on the 1st of September, by Colonel Dennis, with two regiments of Illinois troops, a section of two pieces of gunboat artillery, and two companies of cavalry, and after a contest of four hours were defeated, leaving one hundred and seventy-nine dead and wounded on the field. The Union loss was five killed, seventy-eight wounded and ninety-two prisoners and missing.

WHILE General Buell was holding the | maintained till reinforcements arrived in line of Northern Alabama, covering mid- the afternoon, when by the excellent disdle Tennessee and the communications with Nashville, General Grant was in charge of the Department of Western Tennessee, including the region between the Tennessee river and the Mississippi, with its lines of railway running due south from Columbus, Kentucky, and east and west on the northern border of Mississippi from Memphis to Corinth, and thence to Tuscumbia in Alabama. The withdrawal of a considerable portion of his troops to Louisville for the defence of Kentucky, against the invasion of Bragg, induced the enemy to appear in force and threaten his several lines of communication. A demonstration of this kind was made by a large body of cavalry under the rebel General Armstrong, on the 30th of August, against the Union post at Bolivar in Tennessee, with the view of severing the railway at that point. Colonel Crocker, of the Iowa volunteers, commanding the district, sent Colonel Leggett with a portion of his brigade, several companies of Illinois cavalry and a section of artillery to meet the enemy, who was at first supposed to be in no great number. Colonel Leggett with a small party of Ohio troops of his command came up with them, about five miles from Bolivar, when he found that he had thousands instead of hundreds to deal with. His troops at hand were brought up, and a skirmishing fight

General Rosecrans, who after his signal services in Virginia, had succeeded General Pope in his command in General

Grant's army, was now at the head of the division known as the Army of the Mississippi, with his headquarters at Corinth, where in September he was called upon to resist the advance of a large Confederate force led by the Missouri general, Sterling Price. It was the object of the latter in this movement to break the line of communication between Grant and Buell, and crossing the Tennessee river, operate on the flank of Buell's army in concert with the advance of Bragg to Kentucky. Iuka, a small town on the Memphis and Charleston railroad, celebrated for its chalybeate spring, twenty miles southeast of Corinth, was the first point of attack. Since the evacuation of Corinth it had been occupied by the Union troops, and at the present time, on the approach of the rebel army, was held by Colonel Murphy, of the 8th Wisconsin, with a small force waiting the removal of the military property to Corinth. Before this was accomplished the town was taken by a body of the enemy's cavalry, the garrison put to flight, and a considerable quantity of stores captured. General Price now occupied the place in force, and it became necessary to meet his army in the field. General Grant resolved to dislodge him from his position at Iuka. A double attack was determined upon. "It was decided upon that a column of eighteen thousand men, under Generals Grant and Ord, should move via Burnsville and attack Price, while General Rosecrans would move with part of his corps via Jacinto, and attack the enemy on the flank, while the balance of his column would move on the Fulton road, and cut off his (Price's) retreat in case he should attempt it. With this understanding, on the morning of the 18th inst., our army was on the move. Generals Stanley's and Hamilton's divisions, under General Rosecrans, amid a drenching rain left Clear Creek,' and after a fatiguing march bivouaced that night at this place. At early dawn, on the morning of the 19th, we were

again on the march, and at about ten o'clock the advance of General Hamilton's division encountered the pickets of the enemy at 'Barnett's Corners,' with whom a sharp skirmish took place, resulting in their being driven six miles toward Iuka, with a small loss in killed and prisoners. At this juncture the whole of the column had arrived at 'Barnett's,' and according to the programme, General Rosecrans was waiting for the sound of Grant's artillery, to warn him that it was time to move forward, but after waiting over two hours, he was much chagrined at receiving a dispatch from Grant (who was then only seven miles from Iuka) to the effect that he (Grant) was waiting for General Rosecrans to open the battle. Without further ado, our column accordingly moved forward until within two miles of Iuka, when the enemy were discovered posted on a broad ridge commanding the country for some distance around. As soon as our skirmishers advanced in sight, the rebels opened a severe fire of musketry upon them, when they awaited the arrival of General Hamilton's division, which soon came up on the 'doublequick,' and formed in line. They were also received by a hot fire of artillery and musketry, when the 11th Ohio battery, which had by this time got into position, opened out on the rebels. In a few moments the engagement became general, and lasted for two hours, when darkness precluded the possibility of any further advantage accruing to either side. The night was therefore spent in burying our dead and caring for the wounded, while our men lay on their arms on the battlefield, waiting for the dawn of a new day to continue the work of death."* In the morning Iuka was found evacuated by the enemy, who were in full retreat, and who were pursued several miles by the cavalry of Hamilton and Stanley. In this battle the enemy left

* Jacinto, Mississippi, Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial. September 22, 1862.

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on the field two hundred and fifty-five the gallant Mower. To all the regiments dead, about seven hundred wounded; who participated in the fight, he presents three hundred and sixty-one prisoners congratulations on their bravery and were taken, with 1,600 stand of arms, good conduct. He deems it an especial and a large quantity of stores. The duty to signalize the 48th Indiana, which, Confederate General Henry Little was posted on the left, held its ground until killed, and General Whitfield wounded. the brave Eddy fell, and a whole brigade General Little, a native of Mississippi, of Texans came in through a ravine on the was a graduate of West Point, of 1839. little band, and even then they only yieldHe had served with distinction in the ed a hundred yards until relieved. The war with Mexico, and previously to 16th Iowa, amid the roar of battle, the joining the Confederates, at the outbreak rush of wounded artillery-horses, the of the rebellion, was a captain of in- charge of a rebel brigade and a storm of fantry in command in New Mexico. grape, canister, and musketry, stood like The Union loss was one hundred and a rock, holding the centre, while the gloeight killed, six hundred and eleven rious 5th Iowa, under the brave and diswounded, and seventeen missing. A tinguished Matthias, sustained by Boomer general order issued by Major-General Rosecrans, on the 27th, celebrates the conduct of his command in this spirited engagement. "Brothers in arms: You may well be proud of the battle of Iuka. On the 18th you concentrated at Jacinto; on the 19th you marched twenty miles, driving in the rebel outposts for the last eight; reached the front of Price's army advantageously posted in unknown woods, and opened the action by four P. M. On a narrow front, intersected by ravines and covered with dense undergrowth, with a single battery, Hamilton's division went into action against the combined rebel hosts. On that unequal ground, which permitted the enemy to outnumber them three to one, they fought a glorious battle, mowing down the rebel hordes until, night closing in, they rested on their arms on the battle-ground, from which the enemy retired during the night, leaving us masters of the field. The General Commanding bears cheerful testimony to the fiery alacrity with which the troops of Stanley's division moved up, cheering, to support, when called for, the 3d division, and took their places to give them an opportunity to replenish their ammunition; and to the magnificent fighting of the 11th Missouri, under

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with part of his noble little 26th Missouri, bore the thrice-repeated charges and cross-fires of the rebel left and centre, with a valor and determination seldom equaled, never excelled by the most veteran soldiery. The 10th Iowa, under Colonel Perczel, deserves honorable mention for covering our left flank from the assault of the Texan Legion. Sands' 11th Ohio battery, under Lieutenant Sears, was served with unequaled bravery, under circumstances of danger and exposure such as rarely, perhaps never, have fallen to the lot of a single battery during the war. The 39th Ohio and 47th Illinois, who went into position at the close of the fight, and held it during the night, deserve honorable mention for the spirit they displayed in the performance of their duty. The General Commanding regrets that he must mention the conduct of the 17th Iowa, whose disgraceful stampeding forms a melancholy exception to the general good courage of the troops. He doubts not that there are a good many officers and men in that regiment whose cheeks burn with shame and indignation at the part the regiment acted, and he looks to them and to all its members on the first opportunity, by conspicuous gallantry, to To the brave and gallant Hamilton, who wipe out the stain on their fair fame.

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