Correspondence Gate
City.
Corinth, Oct. 5, ’62.
ED. GATE: – I embrace this, the first opportunity since the
close of the great battle, to give you a hurried account of the two days
engagement, of the 3d and 4th.
It will be understood, of course, that [I d]o not pretend to
give a full or general account, as that would be impossible, but simply to
state such facts as come under my own observation.
On the morning of the 3d, at daylight, our division was
leaving camp and marched to the west of Corinth. We had been on our way but half an hour when
we heard the roar of cannon, apparently four or five miles nearly due west of
us, which continued at intervals until we reached our line of breast-works some
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our regiment, as usual supporting a battery – the gallant 2d to our right. We had not more than fairly dressed up in
line of battle, when on they came again.
Then came the tug of war. We were
ordered to fall flat upon our faces, which we did, whilst they rained down upon
us such a storm of shot and shell, grape and canister, as nothing it seemed,
for a time could resist. Some idea of
the force of the shooting may be formed from the fact that a majority of my
company, and I think, of both the 2d and 7th Iowa, were struck by either pieces
of shell, or shot or limbs of trees. The
number killed at this place in the ten regiments, I do not know. Of my company Corporal John Scott was killed;
privates Robt. Criswell, Peter Miles wounded; and Corp. J. O. Percy, Serg’t W.
W. Sapp and private P. Cadie were missing – supposed to be drowned or taken prisoners. Gen. P. W. [sic] Hackleman, the commander of
our Brigade, was killed – shot through the neck. Gen. Oglesby, Col. Baker of the 2d, and
Lieut. Col. Mills, of the same, Major McMullin and lieutenants John and Irwin
of our regiment were wounded, and Lieut. Camp [missing text] isomer.
[Missing text] eries had exhausted their [missing text] they had been gon [missing text], being unable [missing text]. Our policy [missing text] to [missing text].
[There is a large hole in the top of this article, and the
bottom was torn from the upper left to the lower right, and the rest of the
column is missing, the article picks up at the top of the next column.]
J. M. McCormick, were wounded. Lieut. Bess and McCormick, both had narrow
escapes – one had his canteen shot through, and the other his haversack cut off
by a bullet. The loss of their side is
not known yet, only thus far, that our loss counts by hundreds, while that of
the enemy will have to count by thousands.
This is not a victory made by official or any other kind of reports, but
by hard fighting in which the valor of the Iowa troops was as conspicuous as it
has become proverbial, as we are still lying out without tents, camp equipage
or any else except hard bread, coffee and ammunition, waiting for another
attack from a force said to be advancing from the east. My accommodations for writing are rather
limited, and I must close. We had 345
officers and privates in the [ac]tion, 120 of whom are killed wounded [or]
missing.
C. F. CONN.
– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola,
Iowa, Saturday, October 17, 1862, p. 2.
