<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
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<h3>ADVANCE OF VAN DORN AND PRICE—PRICE ENTERS IUKA—BATTLE OF IUKA.</h3>
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<p>At this time, September 4th, I had two divisions of the Army of
the Mississippi stationed at Corinth, Rienzi, Jacinto and Danville.
There were at Corinth also Davies' division and two brigades of
McArthur's, besides cavalry and artillery. This force constituted
my left wing, of which Rosecrans was in command. General Ord
commanded the centre, from Bethel to Humboldt on the Mobile and
Ohio railroad and from Jackson to Bolivar where the Mississippi
Central is crossed by the Hatchie River. General Sherman commanded
on the right at Memphis with two of his brigades back at
Brownsville, at the crossing of the Hatchie River by the Memphis
and Ohio railroad. This made the most convenient arrangement I
could devise for concentrating all my spare forces upon any
threatened point. All the troops of the command were within
telegraphic communication of each other, except those under
Sherman. By bringing a portion of his command to Brownsville, from
which point there was a railroad and telegraph back to Memphis,
communication could be had with that part of my command within a
few hours by the use of couriers. In case it became necessary to
reinforce Corinth, by this arrangement all the troops at Bolivar,
except a small guard, could be sent by rail by the way of Jackson
in less than twenty-four hours; while the troops from Brownsville
could march up to Bolivar to take their place.</p>
<p>On the 7th of September I learned of the advance of Van Dorn and
Price, apparently upon Corinth. One division was brought from
Memphis to Bolivar to meet any emergency that might arise from this
move of the enemy. I was much concerned because my first duty,
after holding the territory acquired within my command, was to
prevent further reinforcing of Bragg in Middle Tennessee. Already
the Army of Northern Virginia had defeated the army under General
Pope and was invading Maryland. In the Centre General Buell was on
his way to Louisville and Bragg marching parallel to him with a
large Confederate force for the Ohio River.</p>
<p>I had been constantly called upon to reinforce Buell until at
this time my entire force numbered less than 50,000 men, of all
arms. This included everything from Cairo south within my
jurisdiction. If I too should be driven back, the Ohio River would
become the line dividing the belligerents west of the Alleghanies,
while at the East the line was already farther north than when
hostilities commenced at the opening of the war. It is true
Nashville was never given up after its first capture, but it would
have been isolated and the garrison there would have been obliged
to beat a hasty retreat if the troops in West Tennessee had been
compelled to fall back. To say at the end of the second year of the
war the line dividing the contestants at the East was pushed north
of Maryland, a State that had not seceded, and at the West beyond
Kentucky, another State which had been always loyal, would have
been discouraging indeed. As it was, many loyal people despaired in
the fall of 1862 of ever saving the Union. The administration at
Washington was much concerned for the safety of the cause it held
so dear. But I believe there was never a day when the President did
not think that, in some way or other, a cause so just as ours would
come out triumphant.</p>
<p>Up to the 11th of September Rosecrans still had troops on the
railroad east of Corinth, but they had all been ordered in. By the
12th all were in except a small force under Colonel Murphy of the
8th Wisconsin. He had been detained to guard the remainder of the
stores which had not yet been brought in to Corinth.</p>
<p>On the 13th of September General Sterling Price entered Iuka, a
town about twenty miles east of Corinth on the Memphis and
Charleston railroad. Colonel Murphy with a few men was guarding the
place. He made no resistance, but evacuated the town on the
approach of the enemy. I was apprehensive lest the object of the
rebels might be to get troops into Tennessee to reinforce Bragg, as
it was afterwards ascertained to be. The authorities at Washington,
including the general-in-chief of the army, were very anxious, as I
have said, about affairs both in East and Middle Tennessee; and my
anxiety was quite as great on their account as for any danger
threatening my command. I had not force enough at Corinth to attack
Price even by stripping everything; and there was danger that
before troops could be got from other points he might be far on his
way across the Tennessee. To prevent this all spare forces at
Bolivar and Jackson were ordered to Corinth, and cars were
concentrated at Jackson for their transportation. Within
twenty-four hours from the transmission of the order the troops
were at their destination, although there had been a delay of four
hours resulting from the forward train getting off the track and
stopping all the others. This gave a reinforcement of near 8,000
men, General Ord in command. General Rosecrans commanded the
district of Corinth with a movable force of about 9,000 independent
of the garrison deemed necessary to be left behind. It was known
that General Van Dorn was about a four days' march south of us,
with a large force. It might have been part of his plan to attack
at Corinth, Price coming from the east while he came up from the
south. My desire was to attack Price before Van Dorn could reach
Corinth or go to his relief.</p>
<p>General Rosecrans had previously had his headquarters at Iuka,
where his command was spread out along the Memphis and Charleston
railroad eastward. While there he had a most excellent map prepared
showing all the roads and streams in the surrounding country. He
was also personally familiar with the ground, so that I deferred
very much to him in my plans for the approach. We had cars enough
to transport all of General Ord's command, which was to go by rail
to Burnsville, a point on the road about seven miles west of Iuka.
From there his troops were to march by the north side of the
railroad and attack Price from the north-west, while Rosecrans was
to move eastward from his position south of Corinth by way of the
Jacinto road. A small force was to hold the Jacinto road where it
turns to the north-east, while the main force moved on the Fulton
road which comes into Iuka further east. This plan was suggested by
Rosecrans.</p>
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<p>Bear Creek, a few miles to the east of the Fulton road, is a
formidable obstacle to the movement of troops in the absence of
bridges, all of which, in September, 1862, had been destroyed in
that vicinity. The Tennessee, to the north-east, not many miles
away, was also a formidable obstacle for an army followed by a
pursuing force. Ord was on the north-west, and even if a rebel
movement had been possible in that direction it could have brought
only temporary relief, for it would have carried Price's army to
the rear of the National forces and isolated it from all support.
It looked to me that, if Price would remain in Iuka until we could
get there, his annihilation was inevitable.</p>
<p>On the morning of the 18th of September General Ord moved by
rail to Burnsville, and there left the cars and moved out to
perform his part of the programme. He was to get as near the enemy
as possible during the day and intrench himself so as to hold his
position until the next morning. Rosecrans was to be up by the
morning of the 19th on the two roads before described, and the
attack was to be from all three quarters simultaneously. Troops
enough were left at Jacinto and Rienzi to detain any cavalry that
Van Dorn might send out to make a sudden dash into Corinth until I
could be notified. There was a telegraph wire along the railroad,
so there would be no delay in communication. I detained cars and
locomotives enough at Burnsville to transport the whole of Ord's
command at once, and if Van Dorn had moved against Corinth instead
of Iuka I could have thrown in reinforcements to the number of
7,000 or 8,000 before he could have arrived. I remained at
Burnsville with a detachment of about 900 men from Ord's command
and communicated with my two wings by courier. Ord met the advance
of the enemy soon after leaving Burnsville. Quite a sharp
engagement ensued, but he drove the rebels back with considerable
loss, including one general officer killed. He maintained his
position and was ready to attack by daylight the next morning. I
was very much disappointed at receiving a dispatch from Rosecrans
after midnight from Jacinto, twenty-two miles from Iuka, saying
that some of his command had been delayed, and that the rear of his
column was not yet up as far as Jacinto. He said, however, that he
would still be at Iuka by two o'clock the next day. I did not
believe this possible because of the distance and the condition of
the roads, which was bad; besides, troops after a forced march of
twenty miles are not in a good condition for fighting the moment
they get through. It might do in marching to relieve a beleaguered
garrison, but not to make an assault. I immediately sent Ord a copy
of Rosecrans' dispatch and ordered him to be in readiness to attack
the moment he heard the sound of guns to the south or south-east.
He was instructed to notify his officers to be on the alert for any
indications of battle. During the 19th the wind blew in the wrong
direction to transmit sound either towards the point where Ord was,
or to Burnsville where I had remained.</p>
<p>A couple of hours before dark on the 19th Rosecrans arrived with
the head of his column at garnets, the point where the Jacinto road
to Iuka leaves the road going east. He here turned north without
sending any troops to the Fulton road. While still moving in column
up the Jacinto road he met a force of the enemy and had his advance
badly beaten and driven back upon the main road. In this short
engagement his loss was considerable for the number engaged, and
one battery was taken from him. The wind was still blowing hard and
in the wrong direction to transmit sounds towards either Ord or me.
Neither he nor I nor any one in either command heard a gun that was
fired upon the battle-field. After the engagement Rosecrans sent me
a dispatch announcing the result. This was brought by a courier.
There was no road between Burnsville and the position then occupied
by Rosecrans and the country was impassable for a man on horseback.
The courier bearing the message was compelled to move west nearly
to Jacinto before he found a road leading to Burnsville. This made
it a late hour of the night before I learned of the battle that had
taken place during the afternoon. I at once notified Ord of the
fact and ordered him to attack early in the morning. The next
morning Rosecrans himself renewed the attack and went into Iuka
with but little resistance. Ord also went in according to orders,
without hearing a gun from the south of town but supposing the
troops coming from the south-west must be up by that time.
Rosecrans, however, had put no troops upon the Fulton road, and the
enemy had taken advantage of this neglect and retreated by that
road during the night. Word was soon brought to me that our troops
were in Iuka. I immediately rode into town and found that the enemy
was not being pursued even by the cavalry. I ordered pursuit by the
whole of Rosecrans' command and went on with him a few miles in
person. He followed only a few miles after I left him and then went
into camp, and the pursuit was continued no further. I was
disappointed at the result of the battle of Iuka—but I had so
high an opinion of General Rosecrans that I found no fault at the
time.</p>
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