Corinth with a quick stop at Iuka

Corinth was the key railroad town in Northern Mississippi that was quickly identified as a key piece of terrain for both sides during the Civil War.  Troops marched from here to attack Grant's army at Shiloh, and then retreated back to it's defense after they were defeated.  The Union Army moved slowly from Shiloh after the battle, and laid siege to Corinth, but a majority of the defenders were able to escape when their position became futile.   In October of 1862 the confederates tried to win it back, and fought a desperate battle there against very well entrenched Union troops on 3-4 October.  The result was a decisive Union victory, and control of Corinth was not seriously contested for the rest of the war.  

Thursday 5 Jan

Rain for the weekend, blah... Thank you very much weather.com that means

skydiving is out of the question, and there is no way in hell I'm staying

home for the whole weekend, especially when the NFL playoff games don't

start until 430pm.  I still need to go to Corinth, it is about a 2 hour

drive, but if I get after it first thing in the morning I should be able to

get up there and back by 5 or 6pm, and if the rain holds off I can walk

around the battlefield in the rain.  Sarah is going to think that I'm such a

nerd for this, but I better take advantage of living here the best that I

can. 

Corinth Railroad Depot

Saturday 7 Jan

It would be nice to stay in bed all day, but I know if I don't get going

that I'm going to be pissed at myself all day.  At least I can reward myself

with some delicious pancakes, and bacon before I take off.  I also need to

top off the gas tank, and check the tires.  The air gauge is on, but all the

tires are fine, the same thing happened last year the first time it got very

cold.  Out of the apartment by 8am, not too bad, a few minutes to gas, and

go and on the road. 

Nothing like some over analysis of the upcoming playoff games on ESPNradio

to help kill the time on my drive.  ESPNradio actually has a very good

line-up for Saturdays, this is something I learned while driving back and

forth to West Point Skydiving in Virginia.  Mel and Dari are up first, and

then later on it is the Coach and Coleman show, which really should be given

a regular weekday spot.  Those guys are much better than Scott Van Pelt, and

at least as good a Gottlieb.  I'm getting off topic, so back to the trip. 

It rains on and off the whole way to Corinth, mostly on, and very heavy in a

few spots.  Either way I get to the visitors center around 1030, and I'm the

only car in the Parking lot.  No big deal, at least I will not have too many

people there being loud. 

The visitor center is impressive from the outside, it is on one of the key

pieces of terrain for the battle, a spot know as Battery Robinett. The

building is pretty big, and right next to it is a set of rebuilt earthworks,

with artillery pieces to  The walkway criss crosses its way up a small hill

to the front door.  It is raining again, so I make sure to grab the big

camera on the way up. All along the walkway there are bronze items cast to

show what the Soldiers of the day would carry, and leave in battle.  A belt

buckle, cap, backpack, musket, ram rod, and buttons are some of the items I

passed on the way inside. 

As I walked into the Visitor center I was greeted by the Park Ranger with “Braved the weather did we?” 

“Of course, I’ve been wanting to check this battlefield out.”  Was my response. 

The Visitor center is very impressive, I thought it did a better job of telling the story of not only the siege, and battle for Corinth, but the whole campaign that involved Shiloh, and Davis Bridge.   A couple of short movies, and displays latter I was starting to push an hour in the visitors center, and decided to check out the gift shop and then move on.  The gift shop is always a dangerous place for me, because all the books look interesting, and I could easily start dropping a lot of money in there.  

As I walked out of the gift shop, I looked out the back door and saw a fountain, and memorial.  It was pretty impressive, in the flow of water were blocks that represented all the major battles of the war.  The size of the block was proportional to the number of casualties that were suffered at each battle, it is a must see.  I decided to pull out my camera at this point and snap a picture, only to find out that I had violated one of the golden rules “Always check your equipment”… yes my battery was dead.  I realized that I hadn’t charged the battery after my Shiloh trip 2 weeks prior, and now I just had a paperweight in my hand.  Oh well, my small camera was also in the car, so I thought I’d walk around and then grab that.   Out the back gate of the Visitor Center are some monuments to the Soldiers that fought on this ground, and died fighting for control of Battery Robinett.   As I walked back to my car to get the other camera the sky totally opened up, and a major downpour commenced, I decided that the picture wasn’t that important, and decided to start driving the battlefield to see what I could find. 

Following the sign out of the Visitor center, I headed for Battery F., one of the key points of defense for the Union troops on the first day of the battle.  Here Union Soldiers fought a delaying action, until flanked and forced to fall back towards town.  The signs talking about the fighting are in the middle of an open field, surrounded by a residential neighborhood.  A look back into the trees shows the ground still built up to defend the battery.  A quick walk back in there shows not too much, as it is clear that people walk all over what is left of the defenses.  Back to the car, and on to another stop.

Battery F

The next stop is trailhead park at the location that was the reason for the entire battle, the intersection of the Memphis & Charleston railroad, with the Mobile & Ohio railroad.  These were the only two standard-gauge railroads in the Confederacy, and vital to move supplies around for both sides.  Some signs in the park show artist drawings of what the town looked like during the battle, and point out the positions of Union defenses in the area.  

The Railroad Crossing

Next to Trailhead Park is the Crossroads Museum, it was $3 to get in with my Military ID, and worth it if you have the time.  If you are pressed for time, then don’t worry about this stop.  There is a little bit about the civil war battle in there, but it mainly focuses on local people who became famous in some way, shape, or form, and the origins of the city.   Now I decided to walk a few blocks and see the town, it was a very nice town, and quite on a rainy Saturday.  Not too many people out, so I decided to head back to my car, before the next downpour hits.  

I start to follow the civil war tour signs again, but couldn’t help to feel like I was missing stops.  I somehow went from stop 2 to the next location I saw was stop 7, the union siege line from May 3, 1862.  The trenches are still very visible, but there is only a small area to pull the car into, no additional signs, or markers to tell you the significance of what you are looking at, and I didn’t see it until I was another 100 yards down the road, but there is another very well preserved section of trenches not too far away. 

Moving on I then ran into stop number 8, the Farmington Baptist Church where skirmishes were fought as the Union moved it’s siege lines closer to the town through the month of May 1862.  There is a marker on the side of the road that gives a brief description of the events there. 

More rain as I load back up, and I’m getting hungry now, but I decide to follow the signs again, the next stop I run into it the stop for the Corinth Contraband Camp.  This was one of the most well organized “contraband” camps for runaway slaves.   The Union commander organized the houses, with street names, a police force, and self functioning society that sold crops and good to the Union Soldiers.  It is about a mile walk back along a trail, and about 100 yards into my walk the light rain started to turn into a very heavy rain.  The trail was quickly turning to mud, and I decided pretty quickly that I’d seen enough to be happy. 

Back at the car I looked up a BBQ joint on the GPS , and started to drive the 2 miles to this place, only to be disappointed when it turned out to just be someone’s house.  The next closest food place was Subway so I decided to hit that up. 

I finished up my meal around 3pm, and decided it was time to start working my way home.   The rain remained steady, and the interesting sites left to see all involved some walking  from what I could tell.   Two hours of driving with wet feet, and cloths all of a sudden didn’t seem too appealing.  In my guidebook, it mentioned that there was a small museum in Iuka, about a 30 minute drive back towards Huntsville, so I punched the address into my GPS.   Upon arriving in Iuka, my first impression was that this place looks closed, and sure enough it was.  Turns out it is only open during the week, oh well, these things happen sometime. 

Back into the car, as the light began to fade away, at least the traffic wasn’t too bad, and it is pretty much a straight shot home on US-72.   I got home right around 545pm, just in time to get totally relaxed and enjoy what was left of the Bengals/Texans game, and then the Saints/Lions game. 

All in all, a good trip to Corinth.  If I’m passing through the area again, I will probably stop if the weather is a little better, just to check out a few more of the sites.  The current city is built up around much of the battlefield, but there are still things to see, so hopefully you can go check it out.