Persons so drawn will at once be assigned to troops from the states to which they owe military service, and the executive thereof notified of such draft.

2. All violation of trade by army followers may be punished by confiscation of stock in trade, and the assignment of offenders to do military duty as private soldiers.

By command of

JOHN A. RAWLINS, A. A. G.

Major General U. S. GRANT.

It must be remembered that this was in 1862, and that neither the government nor the people had yet reached the point of using the negroes as soldiers. While Grant as a soldier has the invaluable qualities of fully accepting the responsibilities of his position, when they devolve upon him naturally, he has also the not less important quality of a soldier, of following orders without comment.

We thus find that sound judgment, clear, good common sense, and an eminently practical mode of action characterize Grant's behavior in all the political emergencies which the anomalous position of our armies in the field forced frequently upon our generals; and also that he handles the pen as decisively as he does his sword.

CHAPTER XI.

THE BATTLE OF IUKA. THE COMBINATION OF STRATEGY AND ACTION.

DURING the summer months of 1862, the active operations in the field, in Grant's department, were confined generally to skirmishes; but by his constant cavalry reconnoissances he kept himself well informed of the whereabouts of the enemy. Under General Bragg, the Confederates had collected a force at Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was designed to make a flank movement through East Tennessee and Kentucky to the Ohio. Meanwhile General Pope, who had commanded the army of the Mississippi in the advance upon Corinth, had been called to take command of the army of the Potomac, and his place was given to General Rosecrans, who had gained so excellent a reputation in West Virginia. During the whole summer, also, the Confederates had been straining every nerve to make Vicksburg strong enough to withstand any attack which might be brought against it. It was their last stand on the Mississippi River, and one of their plans for its defence appears to have been to operate against Grant, and prevent his giving his whole attention to its capture. At the same time it was important that Grant, before advancing against Vicksburg,

should protect himself from any attacks in his rear, by destroying the armies which could thus operate to annoy him. The details of the operations to secure these ends will occupy our attention before entering immediately upon the operations before Vicksburg.

Early in September, General Sterling Price, who had gained an unenviable reputation early in the war, in Missouri, advanced from the south to cross the Charleston and Memphis Railway at some point between Corinth and Tuscumbia, probably at Iuka. On the 10th of September he reached Jacinto, the small Union garrison of which fell back upon Corinth. Tuscumbia was also vacated by the Union garrison which held it, they falling back upon Iuka; while the garrison at Iuka was also withdrawn to Corinth. Price therefore occupied this latter place, and Grant's object was to discover what the enemy's plan was. The reports concerning Price's intentions were numerous and conflicting. By patient and shrewd observation Grant became convinced that Price's design was to make a feint of crossing the Tennessee as though to attack Buell, who was then falling back upon Nashville, in order to induce Grant to march against him, and, by withdrawing his army from Corinth, make that strong point an easy prey to Van Dorn, who was advancing against it with all possible haste.

Having fathomed this design, the next thing was to counteract it, and render it injurious, instead of beneficial, to its formers. It did not take long to conclude what should be the proper course of action. By his scouts Grant knew that it would take Van Dorn four days to reach Corinth, and within this time he deter

mined to attack Price, to defeat, and if possible destroy, his army, and then return to his position at Corinth, in time to receive Van Dorn on his arrival. There were only four days for this, so that not an hour was to be lost.

He therefore directed General Ord, with a force of three thousand men, to move upon the left of the railway, through Burnsville to Iuka, while General Ross was telegraphed to advance at full speed from Bolivar, on the same route, and join Ord with three thousand five hundred more men. This combined force was to attack Price on the north wherever an opportunity should offer for so doing. At the same time. Rosecrans was ordered to advance with his men, by way of Jacinto, to strike the enemy's flank, while Hamilton, moving round by the Fulton road, should cut off his southward retreat, or turn it to a rout. The force commanded by Rosecrans was about nine thousand men. This combined movement began on the morning of September 18. That night, after marching through a drenching rain, Rosecrans and his army arrived at Jacinto.

The next morning, advancing early, they pushed on to Iuka, and finding the enemy upon an exterior ridge, engaged him; and the fighting continued until night. The ground was very much broken, so that it was difficult to bring the troops into action in large masses; yet the fighting was very severe, and the loss very large. The guns of the Eleventh Ohio were lost and retaken three or four times during the day, and at nightfall remained in the hands of the enemy. This battery was one belonging to Hamilton's division, and, despite this

result, was so admirably handled by that officer, that he received the special encomiums of both Grant and Rosecrans.

On the morning of the 18th, Grant had started with Ord's column, and expected on reaching the ground to be in constant communication with Rosecrans, so that the two divisions should be able to act together and simultaneously.

On arriving upon the ground, however, the tangled nature of the country rendered it necessary, it was found, to send despatches so long a way round, that they constantly arrived too late, caused frequent misunderstandings, and prevented the timely coöperation of the forces. The next morning Rosecrans was ready to recommence the action, but found that the enemy had retreated. Price hastened to Bay Springs, a place about twenty-seven miles south of Iuka, on the Fulton road. He had lost upwards of a thousand prisoners, and left his dead and wounded on the field. On their retreat Price's men committed all kinds of outrages, as we learn from Confederate accounts, upon the people of the country through which they passed. The men were completely demoralized, and their officers could not restrain them if they wished. Sending the following report of the engagement by telegraph from Iuka, on the 20th, Grant on the 22d withdrew his forces to Corinth, to prepare for the reception of Van Dorn's approaching attack.

IUKA, MISS., September 20, 1862.

TO MAJOR GENERAL H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief.

General Rosecrans, with Stanley's and Hamilton's divisions and Misener's cavalry, attacked Price south of this village about