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| The battery that controlled the right of way Battery Williams, that can just be seen at the left of the picture, controlled the cutting through which the Memphis & Charleston Road ran on its way between Corinth and the Mississippi. It faced the right flank of Fort Robinett, distant about half a mile. During the action of October 4th, when the gallant Texans bravely assailed Battery Robinett, Battery Williams with all its guns was playing steadily upon the Confederate left flank, and so closely did they follow that brave and brilliant charge that two shells from the battery landed inside the Federal earthworks and burst there. Most of the houses seen in the mid-distance are barracks erected by the Fifty-seventh and Fifty-second Illinois Infantry. It was directly from this ground, in front of the railway station, that the Confederate advance took place. A short distance to the left of the freight-house stood a small cottage. General Rosecrans as he rode along the Federal line, noticed that the porch and windows were filled with Confederates, who were firing at long range at the batteries. Immediately he ordered two field-pieces to open upon the dwelling with grape and canister. Hardly a man escaped alive. The town suffered severely from the fire of both Confederate and Federal artillery, but most of the inhabitants had retreated to their cellars and no casualties were reported. Note the bales of precious cotton gathered from some storehouse, worth almost their weight in gold before the war was over. |
