Corinth & Iuka

Updated 08/18/03

As I stated in my Perryville section, this campaign needs to be viewed together with Perryville to understand what was happening in the west in the fall of 1862. As Smith and Bragg forced Buell to follow them north, a Confederate force under Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price was assembled to attack the Union strongholds at Iuka and Corinth. The idea was to keep Grant and Rosecrans from sending reinforcements to Buell up in Kentucky. Van Dorn was a terrible infantry commander (he excelled at leading cavalry, however), and the end result was a bungled attack on Corinth which cost the Confederates 5,000 or so men. Soon after Grant launched his Vicksburg campaign.

Title	Author	Comments
The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka & Corinth	Peter Cozzens	Cozzens is another great writer on the western campaigns. This is the first of four books I own which were penned by him. This is the only modern study of Corinth that I know of and it makes an excellent read just before you go out and buy HPS' Campaign Corinth ACW computer wargame. I had read the book a few times before buying the game, so I felt like I had a jump on gamers without access to it. I definitely recommend this and all of Cozzens' books. 390 pp., 11 maps
Rosecrans Meets Price: The Battle of Iuka, Mississippi	Ben Earl Kitchens	New 08/18/03 I just bought this book on my recent trip to Vicksburg. Apparently it is rather hard to find. I know I saw a few other copies still on the shelf there, but otherwise www.abebooks.com might be your best bet. 234 pp.
Battle of Davis Bridge: October 5, 1862	Sons of Confederate Veterans	New 08/18/03 I just bought this book on my recent trip to Vicksburg. It is basically no more than a small pamphlet. I don't think it is essential to anybody's collection. 29 pp.