Overview
The Siege of Corinth followed Union victories at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Nashville, and Shiloh, during the Federal Penetration Up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. After the Battle of Shiloh, General P.G.T. Beauregard withdrew his Confederate army to Corinth, Mississippi. Corinth was an important railroad center where the Memphis and Charleston Railroad crossed the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
General Henry Halleck combined the Army of the Tennessee, the Army of the Ohio, and the Army of the Mississippi into a force of about 120,000 soldiers. On April 29, 1862, the Union army advanced toward Corinth in three wings under Major Generals George H. Thomas, Don Carlos Buell and John Pope. Halleck moved cautiously and required his soldiers to build defensive trenches at each new position.
Poor weather, rough ground and small Confederate attacks slowed the advance. By May 25, Union forces were close enough to shell Corinth. Halleck outnumbered Beauregard’s approximately 65,000 defenders, who faced water shortages, disease and thousands of sick or wounded soldiers.
Beauregard decided to evacuate the town. He increased train traffic, spread false reports of an attack, used fake artillery and kept campfires burning to hide the withdrawal. On May 30, Union patrols found Corinth abandoned. Halleck captured the railroad center with limited bloodshed, but Beauregard’s army escaped.
Essential Facts
- Also Known As: Battle of Corinth I and First Battle of Corinth.
- Date: April 29-May 30, 1862.
- Location: Hardin County and McNairy County, Tennessee, and Alcorn County and Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
- Participants: The United States of America (USA) and the Confederate States of America (CSA).
- USA Commanders: Henry Halleck, Ulysses S. Grant, George H. Thomas, Don Carlos Buell and John Pope.
- CSA Commanders: P.G.T. Beauregard, Earl Van Dorn and Braxton Bragg.
- Who Won: The United States won the Siege of Corinth.
- Campaign: Federal Penetration Up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers.
- Era: Civil War, January–June, 1862.
Statistics
United States of America
- Casualties: About 1,000 killed, wounded, captured, or missing.
- Forces Engaged: Army of the Tennessee, Army of the Ohio and Army of the Mississippi.
- Troop Strength: About 120,000 soldiers.
Confederate States of America
- Casualties: About 1,000 killed, wounded, captured, or missing.
- Forces Engaged: Army of Tennessee and Army of the West.
- Troop Strength: About 65,000 soldiers.
Significance
The Siege of Corinth is important to American History because Union forces captured one of the Confederacy’s most important railroad centers in the Western Theater. The victory gave the United States control of the crossing of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. General Henry Halleck achieved the victory with about 1,000 Union casualties, avoiding the severe bloodshed that had occurred at the Battle of Shiloh. However, Halleck failed to destroy or capture General P.G.T. Beauregard’s army. Beauregard’s carefully planned evacuation saved thousands of Confederate soldiers, allowing them to fight again. The victory increased Halleck’s reputation and led President Abraham Lincoln to place him in charge of all Union armies.
History
Defending Confederate Borders
At the onset of the American Civil War, the State of Tennessee comprised most of the northern border of the Confederate States of America in the West. Defending that border was difficult for the Confederacy because three major rivers (the Mississippi, which flows south to the Gulf of Mexico, and the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, which flow north to the Ohio River) provided relatively easy access to the South. In 1861, the State of Tennessee constructed earthen forts on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers to prevent federal invasions from the north.
Grant Captures Fort Henry and Fort Donelson
By late 1861, President Abraham Lincoln was pressuring Union commanders in the West to invade the South. On January 30, 1862, the western theater commander, General Henry Halleck, reluctantly approved Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant’s request to attack Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. Eager to move, Grant left Cairo, Illinois on February 2, with 15,000 soldiers plus a flotilla of seven gunboats commanded by United States Navy Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote. On February 6, Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman surrendered Fort Henry after a seventy-five-minute bombardment by Foote’s gunboats. Following the surrender of Fort Henry, Grant invested Fort Donelson, located just twelve miles to the east of Fort Henry on the Cumberland River. After a failed breakout on February 15, the Confederate commander of Fort Donelson, General Simon B. Buckner, surrendered Fort Donelson to Grant the next day.
Confederates Abandon Nashville
The fall of the two forts was a serious blow to the Confederacy. It forced General A. S. Johnston, the commander of Confederate forces in the West, to abandon Kentucky and to fortify his position deeper in Tennessee. The fall of the two forts also provided the Federals with two major waterways in the West from which to launch an invasion of the South. As Union armies surged into Tennessee, Johnston abandoned Nashville, Tennessee, and moved even farther south in late February, rather than risk suffering a major battlefield defeat.
Battle of Shiloh
Following the fall of Nashville, Halleck ordered Grant to march his army south to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, near the Tennessee-Mississippi border, to await Major General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio. Halleck’s intention was to merge the two armies and move south and to capture the Confederate railroad center at Corinth, Mississippi.
By early April, Grant had his army of nearly 50,000 men encamped along the western side of the Tennessee River near Pittsburg Landing. On the morning of April 6, 1862, Johnston launched a surprise attack against Grant’s army. In the ensuing confusion, many of the panicked federal troops fled. The oncoming Confederates drove the Union forces back until they held at a new defensive position behind Shiloh Church. During the fighting, Union troops killed Johnston, and P. G. T. Beauregard succeeded him as commander of the Confederate forces.
The next morning, bolstered by Buell’s reinforcements, Grant launched a successful counterattack. When the outnumbered Confederates ran low on ammunition, Beauregard ordered his men to retreat from Corinth.
Halleck Takes Control
Although the Union was victorious at the Battle of Shiloh, Halleck was displeased that Johnston had surprised Grant. Thus, he assumed field command of the Union forces and advanced against Beauregard’s army entrenched at Corinth.
Uniting Union Forces
Corinth was a small but strategically important town where the east-west Memphis & Charleston Railroad crossed the north-south Mobile & Ohio Railroad, near the Mississippi-Tennessee border. Halleck considered Corinth and the railroad center at Richmond, Virginia to be “the greatest strategic points of the war.” Halleck’s resolve to capture Corinth prompted him to merge the Army of the Tennessee, Army of the Ohio, and Army of the Mississippi into one massive force of approximately 120,000 soldiers.
Beauregard also understood the importance of Corinth, observing, “If defeated here we will lose the Mississippi Valley and probably our cause.” To stop Halleck and prevent the loss of Corinth, the Confederate general had nearly 65,000 soldiers entrenched behind earthen fortifications guarding the city.
Advance on Corinth
After making all necessary preparations, on April 29, 1862, Halleck’s forces departed Pittsburg and Hamberg Landings in three wings toward Corinth. The right-wing, commanded by Major General George H. Thomas, comprised four divisions from the Army of the Tennessee and one division from the Army of the Ohio; the center-wing, led by Major General Don Carlos Buell, comprised four divisions from the Army of the Ohio; and the left-wing, under Major General John Pope, comprised four divisions from the Army of the Mississippi. Halleck held in reserve two divisions of the Army of the Tennessee and one division of the Army of the Ohio, led by Major General John McClernand. Halleck relegated Grant—whose reputation suffered at Shiloh—to the inconsequential position of second-in-charge and denied him a field command.
Corinth Under Siege
It took Halleck’s army one month to traverse the twenty-two miles to Corinth. Poor weather, rough terrain, and a series of small-scale Confederate attacks, which began on May 4, delayed the Union advance. Cautious by nature and still smarting from the Confederate surprise attack at Shiloh, Halleck insisted that his soldiers dig new defensive trenches each time that they moved to a new position. By May 25, after traveling only five miles in three weeks, Halleck was close enough to Corinth to shell the Confederate defenses and to lay siege to the town.
Confederate Defenders
Inside the town, Earl Van Dorn’s 14,000-man Army of the West reinforced the Confederates, but Halleck still outnumbered Beauregard’s 65,000 defenders nearly two to one. In addition, the Confederates were running out of water, and nearly 20,000 of them were wounded or wracked with dysentery and typhoid. On the same day that Halleck began shelling the Confederate defenses, Beauregard developed plans to evacuate the town and save his army by implementing an elaborate hoax.
Confederate Evacuation
Starting on May 29, Beauregard increased train traffic into Corinth to evacuate his sick and wounded soldiers and his supplies. As each train arrived, healthy Confederate troops cheered loudly, as though reinforcements had arrived. Beauregard also sent bogus deserters into the Union lines to spread false rumors of an imminent Confederate attack. As the number of Confederate troops in the town dwindled, the Confederate commander replaced real guns with fake, or Quaker, guns, and he ordered his remaining troops to keep campfires burning along the lines. On the morning of May 30, surprised Union patrols found the Confederate fortifications undefended, and the town evacuated.
Outcome
Although it took Halleck over one month to capture Corinth, he did so with very little bloodshed. Each side suffered roughly 1,000 casualties (killed, wounded, and captured/missing). That fact was not lost upon Halleck’s men, many of whom had taken part in the bloodbath at Shiloh and who were expecting no less at Corinth. In honor of his accomplishment, they gave him the nickname of “Old Brains.” Although Beauregard’s army escaped to fight another day, federal officials and the Northern press celebrated Halleck’s victory. Within two months, President Abraham Lincoln summoned Halleck to Washington, placing him in charge of all federal armies, hoping he might duplicate his success on a larger stage.
Timeline
- 1861 — Tennessee constructed earthen forts on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers to prevent federal invasions from the north.
- Late 1861 — President Abraham Lincoln pressured Union commanders in the West to invade the South.
- 1862, January 30 — Henry Halleck approved Ulysses S. Grant’s plan to attack Fort Henry.
- 1862, February 2 — Grant left Cairo, Illinois, with 15,000 soldiers and seven gunboats commanded by Andrew Hull Foote.
- 1862, February 6 — Union forces won the Battle of Fort Henry.
- 1862, February 12–16 — Union forces won the Battle of Fort Donelson.
- 1862, February, late — Albert Sidney Johnston abandoned Nashville and moved further south.
- 1862, April, early — Grant camped nearly 50,000 soldiers near Pittsburg Landing.
- 1862, April 6–7 — Union forces won the Battle of Shiloh.
- 1862, April 8 — Union forces won the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
- 1862, April 29 — Halleck’s army left Pittsburg Landing and Hamburg Landing and advanced toward Corinth in three wings.
- 1862, May 4 — Confederate forces started a series of small attacks that delayed the Union advance.
- 1862, May 25 — Union forces moved close enough to shell Corinth and place the town under siege.
- 1862, May 25 — P.G.T Beauregard developed a plan to evacuate Corinth while deceiving Halleck’s army.
- 1862, May 29 — Beauregard increased train traffic to remove sick soldiers, wounded soldiers, and supplies.
- 1862, May 30 — Union patrols discovered that Confederate forces had abandoned Corinth.
AP US History
Definition
Siege of Corinth (1862) — The Siege of Corinth was a Union offensive led by General Henry Halleck from April 29 to May 30, 1862. Halleck combined three Union armies and slowly advanced toward General P.G.T. Beauregard’s defenses. Disease, water shortages, and Union shelling weakened the Confederates. Beauregard then used false deserters, fake guns, cheering troops, and burning campfires to hide his evacuation. Union forces captured Corinth, but Beauregard saved his army.
Alignment
The Siege of Corinth is part of the following AP US History sections:
