Battle of Corinth Battery F

Battle of Corinth Battery F. 1st. Day, October 3, 1862. The South suffered a strategic disaster when Corinth and its railroads fell to Union forces on May 30, 1862. The destruction of the Union force garrisoned in Corinth and recapture of this rail center quickly became vital Confederate objectives. In late September, 22,000 troops under Maj. Gens. Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price marched toward Corinth to accomplish this. , , On the morning of October 3, the Confederates attacked from the northwest, driving in Union pickets and slowly pushing the stubbornly resisting Union infantry toward town. 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., Throughout the night, commanders of both sides redeployed forces to meet the decisive struggle that would begin in the morning. , Captions to battle map: , 1. Divisions of Lovell, Maury and Hebert launch Confederate assault. Union troops under Hamilton, Davies and McKean delay the Confederate advance. , 2. Battery F is abandoned to the advancing Confederates. Union forces continue their retreat toward Corinth. , 3. By nightfall, Confederates reach outskirts of Corinth. Troops on both sides are redeployed for next morning´s battle.