TomP
Sergeant
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2015
- Location
- Corinth, MS
CAPTURED AT CORINTH
At 4 a.m. of October 4, 1862, the morning quiet was broken by the thundering crash of twelve Confederate cannon. During the night three batteries had been brought to a bit of high-ground, just 300 yards, point-blank range, from Battery Robinett. The Union had bigger guns, and more of them, and within 45 minutes the Confederates were forced to move their artillery to safety.
All that is, but one.
A single cannon and caisson had been left on the exposed ground, the Union counter-battery fire being so heavy it would have been suicide to make the attempt. It was a 3.8 inch James Rifle; a U.S. made gun which had been captured at Shiloh, and later presented to Hoxton's Tennessee Battery.
As the sun came up the Federals across the way could see it, just sitting there, like a prize, a trophy, just waiting to be taken. It was in view of the thousands of soldiers of Brig. Gen. David Stanley's division, particularly the all-Ohio brigade posted on either side of the small fort.
It became too much for a dozen men of the 63rd Ohio Infantry who ran down the Memphis Road to collect it. The Confederates, in the trees beyond, were not about to sit by and watch it be taken. They began to fire with their muskets as the Buckeyes got closer.
The Federals got all the way up to the gun, but the withering fire was too much for them; they grabbed the horses still hitched to the caisson and brought in the smaller prize. (How the horses were still alive is simply amazing in itself.) However, the cannon was still there.
Then, from inside the fort, four men volunteered to give it another try. They were soldiers of Company C, 1st U.S. Infantry, the Regular Army. These men were veterans before the war started. Early in the conflict they had been designated as siege artillery and six companies of the regiment were in Corinth working the big guns in the forts.
They too went running down the road while being shot at every step of the way. Then, with one on each wheel, and one on each handle of the trail, they began to physically drag it back to the Union lines. Normally pulled by six horses; that morning it was three Irishmen and a German.
Miraculously not a man was hit and they wheeled it up the hill to thunderous cheers of "Huzzah!"
They parked their trophy behind the fort, safely out of the way. It used a different caliber projectile then the 20-pounder Parrott rifles in the fort and could not be used in the coming fight.
After the battle, when the dust had settled, one of the Regulars took something sharp, probably the tip of a pocket knife, and etched into the bronze on top of the barrel. "Captured Oct 4 1862 Corinth Miss by 1 US Inf."
The cannon sits in the lobby of the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, just yards away from where it was captured, 157 years ago today.
At 4 a.m. of October 4, 1862, the morning quiet was broken by the thundering crash of twelve Confederate cannon. During the night three batteries had been brought to a bit of high-ground, just 300 yards, point-blank range, from Battery Robinett. The Union had bigger guns, and more of them, and within 45 minutes the Confederates were forced to move their artillery to safety.
All that is, but one.
A single cannon and caisson had been left on the exposed ground, the Union counter-battery fire being so heavy it would have been suicide to make the attempt. It was a 3.8 inch James Rifle; a U.S. made gun which had been captured at Shiloh, and later presented to Hoxton's Tennessee Battery.
As the sun came up the Federals across the way could see it, just sitting there, like a prize, a trophy, just waiting to be taken. It was in view of the thousands of soldiers of Brig. Gen. David Stanley's division, particularly the all-Ohio brigade posted on either side of the small fort.
It became too much for a dozen men of the 63rd Ohio Infantry who ran down the Memphis Road to collect it. The Confederates, in the trees beyond, were not about to sit by and watch it be taken. They began to fire with their muskets as the Buckeyes got closer.
The Federals got all the way up to the gun, but the withering fire was too much for them; they grabbed the horses still hitched to the caisson and brought in the smaller prize. (How the horses were still alive is simply amazing in itself.) However, the cannon was still there.
Then, from inside the fort, four men volunteered to give it another try. They were soldiers of Company C, 1st U.S. Infantry, the Regular Army. These men were veterans before the war started. Early in the conflict they had been designated as siege artillery and six companies of the regiment were in Corinth working the big guns in the forts.
They too went running down the road while being shot at every step of the way. Then, with one on each wheel, and one on each handle of the trail, they began to physically drag it back to the Union lines. Normally pulled by six horses; that morning it was three Irishmen and a German.
Miraculously not a man was hit and they wheeled it up the hill to thunderous cheers of "Huzzah!"
They parked their trophy behind the fort, safely out of the way. It used a different caliber projectile then the 20-pounder Parrott rifles in the fort and could not be used in the coming fight.
After the battle, when the dust had settled, one of the Regulars took something sharp, probably the tip of a pocket knife, and etched into the bronze on top of the barrel. "Captured Oct 4 1862 Corinth Miss by 1 US Inf."
The cannon sits in the lobby of the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, just yards away from where it was captured, 157 years ago today.
Bringing the