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"Battle was raging about Fort RichardGallant Richardson, for whom it was named, fought his battery well. Had his supports fought as his artillerymen did, the record would have been different. The Rebels gained the crest of the hill, swarmed around | the little redoubt, and were swept away from it as a breath will dissipate smoke. Again they swarmed like infuriated tigers. At last, a desperate dash, with a yell. Richardson goes down to rise no more. His supports are not on hand. The foe shouts triumphantly and seizes the guns. The horses are fifty yards down the hill toward Corinth. A score of Rebels seize them. The 56th Illinois suddenly rises from cover in the ravine. One terrible volley, and there are sixteen dead artillery horses and a dozen dead Rebels. Illinois shouts, charges up the hill, across the plateau into the battery. The Rebels fly out through embrasures and around the wings. The 56th yells again and pursues.

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front of the General's cottage. The struc- Generals had arranged to carry Corinth by ture is a sort of sieve now-bullets have one grand assault. In their reconnoissance punctured it so well. But the desperadoes Friday evening, they had found no fort where got no farther into town. Fort Richardson was, and they overlooked Fort Robinett. Ugly obstacles. When they drove their wedge toward Corinth, one flange on the Bolivar road, the other on a branch of the Chewalla, they intended both wings should extend together. Topographical and artificial obstructions interrupted Van Dorn. He was obliged to sweep over a rugged ravine, through dense thickets, up hill, over a heavy abatis, with his left; it was necessary for his center to dip down hill under the fire of Fort Williams, Capt. Gau's siege-guns in the rear of the town, and under heavy musketry, while his right had to girdle a ridge and move over alınost insurmountable abatis under a point-blank fire of both Fort Williams and Fort Robinett, supported by a splendid division of veteran troops. The latter fort had 10pounder Parrotts, three of them—the former 30-pounder Parrotts, which devour men. It was a task to be accomplished, or a terrible failure to be recorded. Price had comparatively plain sailing, and lost no time. Van Dorn was seven or eight minutes behind time. During that precious seven minutes, Price was overwhelmed, and Van Dorn was left with a feat of desperation to be acne-complished. He tried it audaciously. His men obeyed magnificently. Evidently, he relied chiefly on Texas and Mississippi; for the troops of those States were in front. The wings were sorely distressed in the entanglement on either side. Two girdles of bristling steel glistened on the waist of the ridge. Two brigades, one supporting the front at close distance, moved up solidly toward the face of the fort. The Parrotts of both redoubts were pouring shot, and shell, and grape, and canister, into them from the moment of command-Forward-Charge!' shouted clearly from the brave Col. Rogers (acting Brigadier) of Texas. They tell me it was a noble exhibition of desperate daring. At every discharge, great gaps were cut through their ranks. No faltering, but the ranks were closed, and they moved steadily to the front, bending their heads to the storm. Dozens were slaughtered while thrusting themselves through the rugged timber, but no man wavered. Onward, onward, steady and unyielding as fate, their General in front. At last, they reach the ditch. It is an awful moment. They pause to take breath for a surge-a fatal pause. Texas Rogers, with the Rebel flag in his left, revolver in his right, advanced firing, leaped the ditch, scaled the parapet, waved his banner aloft, and tumbled headlong into the ditch. A patriot's bullet had killed him in the moment of triumph. Five Texans

"The Rebels do not stop. Hamilton's veterans, meantime, have been working quietly —no lung-work, but gun-work enough. A steady stream of fire tore the Rebel ranks to pieces. When Davies broke, it was cessary for all to fall back. Gen. Rosecrans thought it well enough to get Price in deeply. A Rebel soldier says Van Dorn sat on his horse grimly and saw it all. 'That's Rosecrans's trick,' said he; 'he's got Price where he must suffer.' Maybe this is one of the apocrypha of battle. A Rebel soldier says it's truth. But Hamilton's division receded under orders-at backward step; slowly, grimly, face to the foe, and firing. But when the 56th Illinois charged, this was changed. Davies's misfortune had been remedied. The whole line advanced. The Rebel host was broken. A destroying Nemesis pursued them. Arms were flung away wildly. They ran to the woods. They fled into the forests. Oh! what a shout of triumph and what a gleaming line of steel followed them. It is strange, but true. Our men do not often shout before battle. Heavens! what thunder there is in their throats after victory! They' report that such a shout was never before heard in Corinth. Price's once 'invincible' now invisible legions were broken, demoralized, fugitive, and remorselessly pursued down the hill, into the swamps, through the thickets, into the forests. Newly disturbed earth shows where they fell, and how very often.

"Gen. Van Dorn's attack was to have been simultaneous with that of Price. The

REBEL DEFEAT AT CORINTH.

who followed pitched forward through the embrasures like logs, and fell into the fort. "But we anticipate. Remember that the two redoubts are on the same ridge: Fort Williams commanding Fort Robinett, which is in front. Had the Rebels taken the latter, the guns of the former would have destroyed them. They were separated by a space not exceeding one hundred and fifty yards. The Ohio brigade, commanded by Col. Fuller, was formed behind the ridge, on the right of the redoubts. The left of the 63d Ohio rested on Fort Robinett, its right joining the left of the 27th Ohio; the 39th was behind the 27th, supporting it; the right of the 43d joined the left of the 63d, forming a right angle with it, and extending to Fort Williams, behind the crest of the ridge. The 11th Missouri, Col. Mower (U. S. A.), was formed behind the 63d Ohio, its left in the angle, and the regiment faced obliquely to the right of the 63d. The positions of these gallant regiments should be described, because their actions are memorable.

"Col. Fuller, perfectly collected, required his brigade to lie flat on their faces when not engaged. While the enemy was steadily approaching, he warned them to wait till they could see the whites of their eyes, then fire coolly. It was at the moment the Texan Rogers was flaunting his flag on our parapet, that the 63d was ordered to fire. Dead Capt. McFadden gave the first command of his life to fire on the field of battle, and he fell mortally wounded. There were only 250 of the 63d in the conflict; but their volley was fearful. It is said fifty Rebels fell at once. Six volleys were fired, and the Rebels were gone. The 63d again lay down. Directly, the supporting brigade of the Rebels advanced. The 63d was ordered to make a half left wheel to sweep the front of the redoubt, and the maneuver was handsomely executed. The 11th Missouri moved on the left into line into the vacant space; the 43d moved by the right of companies to the left, and the 27th half-faced to the left. Suddenly, the enemy appeared; and a furious storm of lead and grape was launched at them. The 63d fired five or six volleys, and the Rebels rushed upon them. A terrific hand-to-hand combat ensued. The rage of the combatants was furious and the uproar hideous. It lasted hardly a minute, but the carnage was dreadful. Bayonets were used, muskets clubbed, and men were felled with brawny fists. Our noble fellows were victors, but at sickening cost. Of the 250 of the splendid 63d, 125 lay there on the field, wounded, dead, or dying. The last final struggle terminated with a howl of rage and dismay. The foe flung away their arms and fled like frightened stags to the abatis and forests. The batteries were

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still vomiting destruction. With the enemy plunging in upon him, brave Robinett, with his faithful gunners of the 1st United States Artillery, had double-shotted his guns and belched death upon the infuriate enemy; and now he sent the iron hail after the fugitives with relentless fury. The abatis was full of them, but they were subdued: Directly, they began to wave their handkerchiefs upon sticks in token of submission, shouting to spare them for God's sake.' Over two hundred of them were taken within an area of a hundred yards, and more than two hundred of them fell in that frightful assault upon Fort Robinett. Fifty-six dead Rebels were heaped up together in front of that redoubt, most of whom were of the 2d Texas and 4th Mississippi. They were buried in one pit; but their brave General sleeps alone: our own noble fellows testifying their respect by rounding his grave smoothly and marking his resting-place.

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"A great shout went up all over Corinth. The battle was a shock. It really began at half-past 9 o'clock, and pursuit was commenced at 11 o'clock. The pursuit of the beaten foe was terrible. Sheets of flame blazed through the forest. Huge trunks were shattered by crashing shells. may track the flying conflict for miles by scarified trees, broken branches, twisted gunbarrels and shattered stocks, blood-stained garments and mats of human hair, which lie on the ground where men died; hillocks which mark ditches where dead Rebels were covered, and smoothly rounded graves where slaughtered patriots were tenderly buried."

Gen. Rosecrans's official report

says:

"When Price's left bore down on our center in gallant style, their force was so overpowering that our wearied and jaded troops yielded and fell back, scattering among the houses. I had the personal mortification of witnessing this untoward and untimely stampede.

"Riddled and scattered, the ragged head of Price's right storming columns advanced to near the house, north side of the square, in front of Gen. Halleck's former headquar ters; when it was greeted by a storm of grape from a section of Immell's battery, soon rëenforced by the 10th Ohio, which sent them whirling back, pursued by the 5th Minnesota, which advanced on them from their position near the dépôt.

"Gen. Sullivan was ordered and promptly advanced to support Gen. Davies's center. His right rallied and retook battery Powell, into which a few of the storming column had penetrated; while Hamilton, having played upon the Rebels on his right, over

the open space effectively swept by his ar- | with very little rest, Gen. Rosecrans tillery, advanced on them, and they fled. ordered all but those on the skirmish The battle was over on the right.

"During all this, the skirmishers of the left were moving in our front. A line of battle was formed on the ridge. About

twenty minutes after the attack on the right, the enemy advanced in four columns on battery Robinett, and were treated to grape and canister until within fifty yards; when the Ohio brigade arose and gave them a murderous fire of musketry, before which they reeled and fell back to the woods. They, however, gallantly reformed and advanced again to the charge, led by Col. Rogers, of the 2d Texas. This time, they reached the edge of the ditch; but the deadly musketry fire of the Ohio brigade again broke them; and, at the word charge, the

11th Missouri and 27th Ohio sprang up and

forward at them, chasing their broken fragments back to the woods. Thus by noon

ended the battle of the 4th of October."

In his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, he says:

"Between 3 and 4 o'clock A. M., the enemy opened his batteries furiously from a point in front of battery Robinett; but in the

course of an hour he was silenced and driven from his position. Our troops, thus aroused from their brief rest, which could scarcely be called slumber, nerved themselves for the coming fight; the brunt of which came on about 10 o'clock, when, the enemy charging our right center, Davies's division gave way, but speedily rallied, and, with the aid of Hamilton's division and a cross-fire from battery Robinett, poured in a fire so destructive that the enemy were thrown into confusion and finally driven from this part of the field; at the same time, he also charged battery Robinett; but was thoroughly repulsed, after two or three efforts, and retired to the woods. With our inferior numbers of exhausted troops, we stood on the defensive, sending skirmishers

to the front and expecting another charge from the enemy, till about 3 o'clock P. M.; when, finding that their skirmishers yielded to ours, we began to push them, and by 4 o'clock became satisfied that they intended to retire from our immediate front; but so superior was their strength that I could not believe they would altogether abandon the operation. By 6 P. M., our skirmishers had pushed theirs back five miles."

Our soldiers, having now been marching and fighting some 48 hours,

line to lie down, while five days' rations should be issued to them, and that they should start in pursuit of the enemy early next morning; but, just before sunset, Gen. McPherson arrived, with five fresh regiments from Gen. Grant, and was given the advance on the trail of the flying enemy, whom he followed 15 miles next day;" having a skirmish with his rear-guard that night.

Meantime, another division, which Gen. Grant had pushed forward from Bolivar, at 3 A. M. of the eventful 4th, under Gen. Hurlbut, to the relief of Corinth, had struck the head of the enemy's retreating forces and skirmished with it considerably during the afternoon. Hurlbut was joined and ranked, next morning, by Ord. The Rebel advance, having crossed the Hatchie river at Davis's bridge, were encountered by Ord and driven back so precipitately that they were unable to burn the bridge, losing 2 batteries and 300 prisoners. Ord, being in inferior numbers, did not pursue across the river, but gathered up 900 small arms which the Rebels had thrown away. He reports that his losses in killed and wounded during that day's pursuit were several hundreds-probably exceeding those of the enemy, who fought only under dense cover, with every advantage of ground, compelling our men to advance across open fields and up hills against them. Gen. Veatch was among our wounded.

Van Dorn crossed the Hatchie that night at Crumm's Mill, 12 miles farther south, burning the bridge behind him. McPherson rebuilt the

37 Oct. 5.

UNION AND REBEL LOSSES AT CORINTH.

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bridge and crossed next day;" con- | with 2,248 prisoners." He estimated tinuing the pursuit to Ripley, fol- their loss in wounded at 5,692. He lowed by Rosecrans with most of his says the prisoners represented 53 regiarmy, gathering up deserters and ments of infantry, 16 of cavalry, 13 stragglers by the way. Rosecrans batteries, and 7 battalions; and that was anxiously eager to continue the their numbers engaged were nearly pursuit, and telegraphed to Grant for double his own," which he makes less permission to do so," believing the than 20,000 in all." Among his troRebel army utterly demoralized and phies were 14 flags, 2 guns, 3,300 incapable of resistance; but he was small arms, &c. ; while the Rebels, in directed to desist and return to their retreat, blew up many ammuCorinth. Nine days after his return, nition and other wagons, and left the he was relieved from his command at ground strewn with tents, accouterCorinth, and ordered to report at ments, &c. Among our killed were Cincinnati; where he found a dis- Gen. Pleasant A. Hackleman," Col. patch directing him to supersede Thomas Kilby Smith, 43d Ohio, and Gen. Buell in command of the Army Cols. Thrush, Baker, and Miles; of the Ohio and Department of the while Gen. Richard J. Oglesby," Cumberland, including all of Tennes- Adjt.-Gen. Clark, of Rosecrans's see east of the Tennessee river. staff, and Col. Mower, 11th Missouri, were among the severely wounded. On the Rebel side, Acting Brigadiers Rogers, Johnston, and Martin were killed, and Cols. Pritchard, Daily, and McClain were wounded.

Gen. Rosecrans reports his total loss at Corinth and in the pursuit at 2,359-315 killed, 1,812 wounded, and 232 missing; and says that the Rebel loss in killed alone was 1,423,

* Oct. 6.

He gives these reasons for his eagerness, in his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War:

"Mississippi was in our hands. The enemy had concentrated all his available force for an

offensive movement, had been thoroughly beaten at Corinth, and had then retreated, blowing up his ammunition wagons and caissons; their men throwing away their camp and garrison equipage in the flight. The weather was cool; the roads were dry, and likely to be so for a month to come. Corn was ripe, and, as yet, untouched. We had 3,000,000 of rations in Corinth, and ammunition for six months. There was but one bridge injured on the Mobile and Ohio road; and it could be put in running order by a regiment in half a day. The enemy were so alarmed that, when Hamilton sent a reconnoissance to Black

land, they vacated Tupelo, burning even the bacon which they could not take away on the first train. I had eighty wagon-loads of assorted rations which had reached me that night at Ripley, and had ordered the 30,000 from Chewalla to Hurlbut."

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XI.

SLAVERY IN THE WAR-EMANCIPATION.

THE Federal Constitution was framed in General Convention, and carried in the several State Conventions, by the aid of adroit and politic evasions and reserves on the part of its framers and champions. The existing necessity for a stronger central authority, which had been developed during the painful experiences of our preceding years of independence, were most keenly felt by the mercantile and mechanical or manufacturing classes, who were consequently zealous advocates of a "more perfect Union." The rural districts, on the other hand, were far less seriously affected by commercial embarrassment and currency dilapidation, and were naturally jealous of a distant and unfamiliar power. Hence the reticence, if not ambiguity, of the text with regard to what has recently been termed "coercion," or the right of the Federal Government to subdue by arms the forcible resistance of a State, or of several States, to its legitimate authority—a reticence which was imitated by the most prominent advocates of ratification, whether in The Federalist or in the several State Conventions. So with regard to Slavery as well. It is plain that the General Convention would have utterly and instantly prohibited the Foreign Slave-Trade, but for the proclaimed fact that this would insure the rejection of their handiwork by the still slave-hungry States of South Carolina and Georgia, if not of North Carolina also; though Virginia was among the most earnest advocates of

the prohibition. Hence, when the State Conventions were assembled to ratify or reject it, with such eminent Revolutionary patriots as Patrick Henry, John Hancock, Hancock, Samuel Adams, George Clinton, and Luther Martin, leading in the opposition, the clauses affecting Slavery were vigilantly, and not unsuccessfully, scrutinized for grounds of attackthe provision concerning the African Slave-Trade being assailed in some States from the side of Slavery, in others from that of anti-Slavery, with vigor and effect. In the North, these assaults were parried by pointing to the power conferred on Congress to abolish the traffic after twenty years, as so much clear gain: to reject the Constitution would not arrest the traffic now, but would destroy the power to prohibit it hereafter. On the other hand, the Federalists in the Southern Conventions met their adversaries by pointing to the privilege secured to the slaveholders of hunting their fugitive chattels in other States than their own-a privilege hitherto non-existent-and asked them what was to be gained by rejecting that. In fact, the Constitution was essentially a matter of compromise and mutual concession-a proceeding wherein Thrift is apt to gain at the cost of Principle. Perhaps the majority in no State obtained exactly what they wanted, but were satisfied that, on the whole, they were better with the Constitution than without it.

Patrick Henry alone, in opposing

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