After Corinth and its railroads fell to Union forces on May 30, 1862, the South faced a strategic disaster, and destroying the Union force garrisoned there and recapturing this rail center became vital Confederate objectives. In late September, 22,000 troops under Maj. Gens. Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price marched toward Corinth to achieve this. On the morning of October 3, the Confederates attacked from the northwest, drove in Union pickets, and slowly pushed stubbornly resisting Union infantry toward town. Divisions of Lovell, Maury, and Hebert launched the Confederate assault while Union troops under Hamilton, Davies, and McKean delayed the advance. Battery F was abandoned to the advancing Confederates as Union forces continued their retreat toward Corinth. By nightfall, the Confederates had reached the outskirts of Corinth, and when darkness halted the fighting the Union troops had fallen back to the town's inner defense, within a few hundred yards of the railroad crossing. Soldiers of both armies lay exhausted from extreme heat, almost no drinking water, and violent battle, and throughout the night commanders on both sides redeployed forces for the decisive struggle that would begin in the morning.

Photo: Internet Archive

Photo: Internet Archive

Photo: Brandon Fletcher

Photo: Ken Smith

Photo: Ken Smith

Photo: Brandon Fletcher

Photo: Ken Smith