Civil War Mississippi: A Guide

1. Silent Guns: The Battle of luka

O N E Silent Guns: The Battle of luka Ulysses S. Grant had become more and more obsessed with Sterling Price's intentions. Was Price trying to block the rail line to keep Grant from sending troops to Don Carlos Buell? Grant knew that Earl Van Dorn was bringing a small army northeastward from Vicksburg , but he had received conflictingreports from his scouts. Some intelligence suggested that Price intended to march into Tennessee and on to Kentucky, no doubt to reinforce Braxton Bragg. Other scouts thought Price had in mind a coordinated attack with Van Dorn against Corinth. Still others suggested that Price would cross the state line into Tennessee in an effort to draw Union troops away from Corinth, and, if that worked, then Van Dorn would assault the depleted Federal force at Corinth. Given all this uncertainty, Grant characteristically decided to grab the initiative.Van Dorn wasstill a fewdays away, so on September 16, 1862, he issued orders for a two-pronged campaign against Price at luka. Grant instructed General William Rosecrans with nine thousand men to march south and east via the towns of Rienzi and Jacinto. He was to leave enough troops in Jacinto to protect Corinth's southern flank. Then Rosecranswould swing north and assault luka from the south. Meanwhile, General E. O. C. Ord would march his detachment of six thousand down the north side of the railroad between Corinth and luka via Burnsville. Ord would attack Price from the north. If the assaults on the Confederates were coordinated as planned, Price would be caught in a Union pincer. Grant travelled with Ord's column; both Ord and Rosecrans began marching to battle on September 18. 16 luka and Corinth Sterling Price. Commanded Confederate forces at the Battle of luka. Credit: EzraJ. Warner, Generals in Gray, Baton Rouge: LSU Press Sterling Price waited at luka with a force of fifteen thousand split into two divisions led by General Henry Little and General Dabney Maury. Price would be fifty-three years old on September 20. Hismilitary training and experience had come in the field, first in the Mexican War and early in the Civil War in Missouri and Arkansas. Price had been dutifullyfollowinghis instructions to keep an eye on Grant so that Price could try to block reinforcements sent to Buell. Braxton Bragg had grown so anxious about Grant's potential for bolstering Buell that he had ordered Earl Van Dorn several weeks earlier tojoin Price. But Van Dorn had lingered at Vicksburg while a detachment of the Vicksburg army, led by General John C. Breckinridge, had marched to attack Baton Rouge. The attack had been unsuccessful, but Breckinridge had taken steps to occupy Port Hudson, a strategically strong Mississippi River town above Baton Rouge. With Breckinridge gone, Van Dorn refused to leave Vicksburg . August had drifted by,and September had come with no concerted action in northeast Mississippi by the Confederates. The Battle of luka 17 On September i, Bragg wired Price to do all in his power to prevent Rosecrans from marching tojoin Buell. Price learned that Rosecrans had indeed dispatched a few troops to Tennessee, so Price decided to occupy luka, which he did with only light resistance from Union troops. MeanwhileBragg urged Price to abandon his position and come to Tennessee to counteract Rosecrans's expected arrival there. But Price hesitated, being fully aware that Van Dorn had at last left Vicksburg and washurrying north. In fact Van Dorn ordered Price to leave luka and join forces at Rienzi; from there Van Dorn planned to attack Corinth. Grant's offensive, however, forced Price to fight where he was. William Rosecrans, known affectionately as "Old Rosy" by his troops, wasa West Pointer, class of 1842. He had had no combat experience before the Civil War, having served ten years in the engineering corps before resigning from the army in 1854. The fortythree -year-old general proved to be a solid but unspectacular leader in the field. The imminent battles at luka and Corinth would inflate his reputation, which would later be deflated by his resounding defeat at Chickamauga. Rosecrans executed his part of Grant's plan, most of which had been suggested by Rosecrans, concentrating in the Jacinto area on the evening of the eighteenth. He notified Grant that General David Stanley's division was so exhausted by a forced march that he would delay assaulting luka until the next...