78 



AEMY OPERATIONS. 



all the supplies required for the Federal army. 

 Gen. Halleck consequently took immediate 

 steps to open a new line direct to Colum- 

 bus, Ky., to which place the railroad was 

 speedily repaired. These circumstances would 

 impose a limit upon the military operations 

 of Gen. Halleck's army for some months. 

 Even if Corinth was evacuated and a part 

 of the Confederate force withdrawn entirely, 

 no serious blow could be struck by Gen. Hal- 

 leck. These considerations must have pre- 

 sented themselves to the Confederate Gov- 

 ernment at the time when Richmond was 

 closely pressed by Gen. McClellan, and really 

 in danger of capture. Without doubt they ex- 

 erted an influence in producing the determina- 

 tion to evacuate Corinth. And when it be- 

 came evident that the position could not be 

 held against the force that was advancing upon 

 it, they pointed out the manner in which this 

 evacuation could be turned to advantage. 



At this time Gen. McClellan had crossed the 

 Chickahominy, Gen. Banks was retreating be- 

 fore Gen. Jackson up the Virginia valley, Forts 

 Pillow and Randolph and the city of Memphis 

 had surrendered, and a Federal force was mak- 

 ing an attack on Vicksburg. 



The pursuit of the retreating forces of Gen. 

 Beauregard was made as follows: On the 

 morning after the evacuation, Gen. Pope's forces 

 entered the town about twenty minutes before 

 seven o'clock, just as the last of the Confed- 

 erate cavalry were leaving. One company of 

 cavalry, being Gen. Pope's escort, pushed after 

 them, and had a brisk skirmish, in which several 

 were killed and captured. The pursuit, how- 

 ever, was arrested by the burning of a bridge 

 over a swampy creek, and the cavalry returned. 

 A brigade of cavalry and a battery under Gen. 

 Granger were then sent out by Gen. Pope on 

 the Booneville road. It left Farmington at 

 noon on the 30th, and the same day came up 

 with the rear guard of the enemy posted on 

 Tuscumbia Creek eight miles south of Corinth. 

 The next day they were driven out, and on 

 Sunday, Juno 1, the pursuit was recommenced. 

 Gen. Granger passed Rienzi only two hours 

 behind the retreating army, and found the 

 bridges between that place and Booneville 

 so recently fired that the timbers were nearly 

 all saved. That afternoon the advance over- 

 took the retreating Confederate rear four miles 

 from Booneville, and pursued it within one mile 

 of the town, and halted for the night. At five 

 o'clock on the next morning the town was 

 entered, and skirmishing was kept up all day 

 with the Confederates on every road leading 

 westward or southward as far as Twenty Mile 

 Creek. On the next day a reconnoissance with 

 force was made toward Baldwin, and the Con- 

 federate force driven across Twenty Mile 

 Creek ; and on the 4th another reconnoissance 

 was made by Col. Elliot via Blocklands, with 

 similar results. On the 10th Baldwin and Gun- 

 town were occupied by Federal troops, which 

 was the termination of the pursuit. Boone- 



ville, above mentioned, is twenty-four miles 

 by the railroad from Corinth. The Confederate 

 force fell back to Tupello. The position of the 

 forces at Corinth remained unchanged until the 

 10th of June, when Maj.-Gen. Buell, under in- 

 structions from Gen. Halleck, moved his army 

 along the line of railroad toward Chattanooga. 

 He was then between Huntsville and Steven- 

 son, when it became necessary to move upon 

 Louisville to counteract the designs of Gen. 

 Bragg. Meantime the army under Gen. Grant 

 occupied the line of west Tennessee and Mis- 

 sissippi extending from Memphis to luka, and 

 protecting the railroads from Columbus south, 

 which were then their only channels of supply. 

 On the 23d of July Gen. Halleck left the de- 

 partment to take the position of general-in- 

 chief at Washington. Gen. Grant continued in 

 the position above stated until a portion of 

 his troops were withdrawn from Mississippi 

 and sent to Kentucky and Cincinnati to give 

 confidence to the new levies brought into the 

 field upon the invasion of Kentucky by Gen. 

 Bragg. 



It will have been observed that the division of 

 Gen. Buell's army, under the command of Gen. 

 Mitchell, has not been spoken of as cooperating 

 with the other divisions at Pittsburg Landing 

 and Corinth. This division left Nashville on 

 the same day with the others, but took the 

 road to Murfreesboro. There it remained in 

 occupation of the place and repairing the 

 bridges until the 4th of April. Long before 

 this time the Confederate troops, which occu- 

 pied Nashville and retreated to Murfreesboro, 

 had withdrawn and united with those under 

 Gen. Beauregard on the new southern line of 

 defence. 



On the 4th of April, Gen. Mitchell march- 

 ed to Shelbyville, the county seat of Bed- 

 ford county, Tenn., twenty-six miles dis- 

 tant. On the 7th he advanced to Fayetteville, 

 twenty-seven miles farther, and the next fore- 

 noon, the 8th, fifteen miles beyond, he crossed 

 the State line of Alabama. Continuing his 

 march six miles farther, and being within ten 

 miles of Huntsville, Ala., he halted for the ar- 

 tillery and infantry to come up. No tents 

 were pitched. The men lay round camp fires. 

 Just as the moon was going down, the shrill 

 bugle call was sounded. All were up, and in 

 a few minutes ready to move. A battery 

 was put in advance, supported by two bri- 

 gades. Four miles from Huntsville, the shrill 

 whistle of a locomotive was heard, and in 

 a few minutes the train came in sight, and 

 was stopped by the call of the brass guns 

 of the battery. The train was captured to- 

 gether with 159 prisoners. On to the town 

 was now the order. The citizens were quietly 

 sleeping as the army entered. Says a specta- 

 tor of the scene: "The clattering noise of the 

 cavalry aroused them from their slumber ere 

 the dawn of the morning, and they flocked to 

 door and window, exclaiming with blanched 

 cheek and faltering tongue, ' They come, they 



