136 The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War

explanation, which that general, with some frivolousexcuses, declined to give. Pope ’s conduct in thisaffair shows true generosity, but what shall be saidof the superior officer who thus allowed a subordi-nate to become his scapegoat and uttered never aword to clear him ?

Chagrined and disgusted as the northern peoplewere at Beauregard’s easy escape, nevertheless theoccupation of Corinth was an event of great im-portance. It broke through the second Confederate line of defence, and gave the Federals possessionof the only railroad which directly connected theMississippi river with the seaboard of Virginiaand South Carolina . It also turned the positionsof Fort Pillow and Memphis on the great river,just as the capture of Fort Donelson had turnedthe position of Columbus. On the 5th of June,just a week after the fall of Corinth, the Federalfleet found Fort Pillow abandoned. This riverfleet, which had cooperated with Grant and Pope,was now commanded by Commodore Charles Davis,as the wound received by Foote at Fort Donelsonhad grown worse and obliged him to retire. Footewas a commander worthy of a navy that boasteda Farragut and a Porter, and in Davis he had aworthy successor. The fleet had been strengthenedby the addition of four powerful rams constructedby Colonel Ellet of the army, a man of venture-