“A fearful hand-to-hand fight

“A fearful hand-to-hand fight. . “A fearful hand-to-hand fight was raging in the heart of the town – around the railroad depot, the Tishomingo Hotel, the Corinth House, and even in the yard around the headquarters of General Rosecrans, the old Duncan homestead.” , – Private Thomas D. Duncan, The Duncan House served as Union headquarters during the October 1862 Battle of Corinth. On October 3rd, fighting began over five miles to the northwest, and by sunset hostilities ended less than a half-mile away. General Rosecrans spent most of the night positioning his troops for the next day’s contest, returning to the Duncan House at 3:00 a.m. An hour later he was awakened by cannon fire., During a brief Confederate breakthrough on the second day of the battle, fighting raged all about the home, and as far south as the vital railroad crossing. Major General Earl Van Dorn’s post battle report describes “a hand-to-hand contest” enacted “in the very yard of General Rosecrans’ headquarters and in the streets of the town.”, Lieutenant Thomas Tobin of Hoxton’s Tennessee Battery, captured early in the morning, witnessed the battle from within the Union lines: “Our troops penetrated to the Corinth House and the Tishomingo House and to the square in front of General Bragg’s old headquarters [the Verandah House] and into the yard of General Rosecrans headquarters.” The Cincinnati Commercial later described the serious nature of this struggle at the Duncan House: “Seven rebels were killed within the little enclosure in front of the General’s cottage.”, Reserves from the east and west sides of the tow converged to turn the tide of battle. The Confederates were driven from the town and the Duncan House was restored to Union control., (captions) , Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, commander of the Confederate Army of West Tennessee, during the Battle of Corinth., Maj. Gen. Wm S. Rosecrans. He and Van Dorn were cadets in the West Point class of 1842., Dead in front of Battery Robinett. All images from the collection of Van Hodges, Background image – “The Key to Corinth,” by Keith Rocco.