Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 13.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

[301] about 500 effectives. Wirt Adams's brigade, 1,000 effectives, was also detached to guard the approaches from Bolivar. Bledsoe's battery was detached with six guns and about 120 men. So that the total effective force with which we began the fight on the morning of the 3d did not exceed 16,080 men. The force which actually assaulted Corinth on October 4th (Price's corps only) did not exceed 9,000 effectives. I think this battle illustrated the superior elan of Confederate troops. The outer defences of Corinth had in the spring of 1862 held Halleck's great army before them for six weeks; and although the Confederate army holding those works was not half so strong as the Federal army under Halleck, he never dared to attack us. In October, 1862, we found these conditions all reversed. Those same works were then held by a Federal army which we believed to equal or exceed ours in numbers; yet we did not hesitate to attack them, and with no more delay than was necessary to form our line of battle. We marched upon those entrenchments without check or hesitation, and carried them in just the time necessary for us to traverse at quick time the space which divided our opposing lines.

I have been careful to state correctly the force with which we made this attack, because of the gross misrepresentations which have so often been made of the opposing Confederate and Federal armies during the late war. The school-histories of the United States, prepared by Northern authors for the use of our own children, are replete with this sort of disparagement of the Confederate armies. In one of their histories I have recently seen a statement of Van Dorn's army at Corinth, at the exaggerated number of 40,000 effectives. As you know, it very rarely happened to any Confederate General to lead so many of our troops against the enemy; and had Van Dorn led half so many against the inner works of Corinth, and made them all fight as Price's corps did, we would have captured Rosecrantz's army.

No commander of the Federal armies evinced more tenacity and skill than did General Rosecrantz during this battle. He was one of the ablest of the Union Generals, and his moderation and humanity in the conduct of war kept pace with his courage and skill. Our dead received from him all of the care due brave men who fell in manly warfare, and our wounded and prisoners who fell into his hands attest his soldierly courtesy.

After the repulse of Van Dorn from Corinth on the morning of October 4th, he fell back to Chewalla, eight miles from Corinth,