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THE BATTLE OF CORINTH.

74 !

ordered them to be connectedby breastworks, and the frontto the west and north to becovered by such an abatisas the remaining timber onthe ground could furnish. Iemployed colored engineertroops organized into squadsof twenty-five each, headedby a man detailed from theline or the quartermaster’sdepartment, and commandedby Captain William B. Glaw,a competent engineer. I alsoordered an extension of theline of redoubts to cover thenorth front of the town, oneof which, Battery Powell, wasnearly completed before thestirring events of the attack.

Xo rifle-pits were constructedbetween Powell and the cen-tral part covering the north-west front of the town, whichwas perfectly open north-eastand south-east, with nothingbut the distant, old Confeder-ate works between it and thecountry.

To add to these embarrass-ments in preparing the placeto resist a sudden attack,

Grant, the general command-ing, had retired fifty-eightmiles north to Jackson, on the Mobile and Ohio railway, with all the knowl-edge of the country acquired during the four months in which his head-quarters were at Corinth , and I, the new commander, could not find even thevestige of a map of the country to guide me in these defensive preparations.

During the 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th of September, the breastworks werecompleted joining the lunettes from College Hill on the left. A thin abatismade from the scattering trees, which had been left standing along the westand north fronts, covered the line between Robinett and the Mobile and Ohio;thence to Battery Powell the line was mostly open and without rifle-pits.

To meet emergencies, Hamilton’s and Stanley’s divisions, which had beenwatching to the south and south-west from near Jacinto to Rienzi, were closedin toward Corinth within short call.

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BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS A. DAVIES.FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.