Corinth, Miss. As it
is seen from the last date, I have not written any for some time and I must
write of the past from memory. Not getting any better, I went to the Company
hospital on September 24 and there was treated for fever of which I had but a
very slight touch. On the morning of October 1 every man that could not join
his platoon was to be sent to Corinth as the Battery was going to move, so I
and four others were put in the ambulance and driven to the depot, but the cars
did not come till 2 P. M. When they came, they loaded all the commissary stores
in the rooms. E. R. Hungerford and myself were lucky enough to get into the box
car. We got to Corinth in about two hours, and after waiting an hour we were
taken in a mule wagon to the Seminary Hospital situated on a hill about one
mile and a half from Corinth.
We were put in a
comfortable tent and lay there unmolested until the 3rd, when early in the
morning heavy firing was heard and continued all day. We learned that the
cannon had been attacked by the rebels consisting of Price, Breckinridge, Van
Dorn and one other commander. In the afternoon we had to move down under the
hill, we being right in the range of the guns should they open fire in that
direction at night. We were ordered to have everything packed so as to leave at
a moment's notice. At about 12 o'clock at night we were ordered out on the
road, while the tents were struck and cots piled. Presently the teams began
driving in and loading men and cots. At last our turn came, but not until the
rebs had opened fire on the town with three guns throwing shells. We had to
pass under the fire. The shells whistled over our heads in every direction,
while off went the mules as fast as they could trot. It certainly was a rough
ride. They drove us through town and left us on the east of it about ½ mile. By
this time it was nearly day-light and the guns used by the rebs throwing shells
were taken. About 9 o'clock the engagement became general. The noise of the
musketry, occasionally broken in upon by the loud peal of artillery, made it
truly terrific. The fight lasted about three hours, when the rebs were obliged
to skedaddle.
All of this time we
had heard nothing from the Battery. We supposed that it had been engaged, when
at 12 o'clock Dr. Miller came around and told us that the Battery had been
engaged that morning, and had been taken and retaken, but he could not give us
a list of the casualties. We heard nothing more from the Battery until to-day,
G. M. Spencer came with a list of casualties. He informed us that the sick and
wounded were gathered in a company hospital about a quarter of a mile to the
south. We remained in the general hospital until [Tuesday, Oct. 7.]
SOURCE: Jenkin Lloyd
Jones, An Artilleryman's Diary, p. 8-8
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