734

THE BATTLE OF IUKA.

having been roughly handled and driven back by McCulloch’s regiment ofMissouri cavalry, supported by Colonel Rogers’s regiment of Texas sharp-shooters and Bledsoe’s battery, the pursuit was abandoned and the Confed-erates reached Baldwyn without further interruption.

In the battle of Iuka only two brigades of Price’s army were engaged,Hebert’s and Adams’s brigades of Little’s division. They were composedexclusively of troops from Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas , andTexas, and one Missouri battery. The aggregate strength of both brigadeswas 3179 officers and men. Their loss was 86 killed and 408 wounded [seealso p. 736]. In addition to these, about 200 of the Confederate sick were leftat Iuka and on the road. Price’s loss, therefore, was about 700.

Rosecrans’s column, according to his own report, was 9000 strong, but thebrunt of the battle fell upon two brigades of Hamilton’s division. The Unionloss was 141 killed, 613 wounded, and 36 missing; total, 790.

Roseerans says that Price’s loss was 1438; and Hamilton states “ boldly,”to use his own expression, that he, “ with a force of not more than 2800 men,met and conquered a rebel force of 11,000 on a field chosen by Price.”G-eneral Grant, in his report of the battle written a month afterward, dis-cards these exaggerations of Roseerans and Hamilton.

THE BATTLE OE IUKA.

BY C. S. HAMILTON, MAJOR-GENERAL, 17. S. V.

I UKA is a little village on the Memphis andCharleston railway, in northern Mississippi ,about thirty miles east of Corinth. In September,1862, the Confederate authorities, to prevent reen-forcements being sent by the Federal commanderin Mississippi to Buell in Kentucky , sent GeneralSterling Price with his army corps to Iuka. Aregiment of Union troops stationed at Iuka evac-uated the place, leaving a considerable quantity ofarmy stores, as also quite an amount of cotton.The latter was destroyed, the former made use of,and Price settled down, apparently at his leisure,under the nose of Grant’s force, whose headquar-ters were at Corinth. As soon as definite informa-tion was had of this position of Price , Grant tookimmediate steps to beat him up. A combined at-tack was planned, by which Roseerans with histwo divisions (Hamilton’s and Stanley’s) was tomove on Iuka from the south, while Ord, with asimilar column, was to approach Iuka from thewest. This he did, taking position within aboutsix miles of the village, where he was to awaitRosecrans’s attack.

From Iuka southward ran two parallel roads,some two miles distant from each other—the mosteastern known as the Fulton road, the western asthe Tuscumbia. Grant’s plan contemplated an ap-proach on Iuka by way of the Fulton road, at leastin part, with a view of cutting off the escape ofPrice by that road. Roseerans, however, for rea-sons of his own, decided on taking the Tuscumbiaroad with his whole force, thus leaving the Fultonroad open.

A rapid march from Jacinto (Hamilton’s divisionleading, Sanborn’s brigade in the advance) broughtRosecrans’s column to Barnett’s by noon. Hamil-ton, who had expected to march upon the Fultonroad from that point, was furnished with a guide,and directed to continue his march on the Tuscum-bia road without further instructions.

About 4 p. M. the guide gave notice that the col-umn was within about two miles of Iuka. In fact,we were on the eve of a battle, and it is well hereto note the strength and position of the opposingforces. On the Union side was Hamilton’s divisionof 2 brigades (Sanborn’s and Sullivan’s) of 5 regi-ments and a battery each. Stanley’s division wasfollowing along the same road, but as yet wassome distance in the rear. It also had 2 brigadesof 5 regiments each, but only 3 of these regimentsreached the field in time to take any part in theconflict.

At the moment the guide gave notice of ournearness to Iuka, the whole of the leading divisionwas halted in the road in exactly the order theyhad been marching. The head of the column hadjust finished ascending a long hill, from the top ofwhich the ground sloped in undulations toward thefront. A few hundred yards ahead, in line of bat-tle, the enemy lay concealed in the woods. He-bert’s brigade of 6 regiments lay athwart the roadby which we were approaching; Martin’s brigadeof 4 regiments had been divided, and 2 of theseregiments were thrown on the right of the Confed-erate line and 2 on the left, making 10 regimentsin line of battle. At the commencement of the