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Corinth, Mississippi

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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A city and the county-seat of Alcorn county, Mississippi, U.S.A., situated in the N.E. part of the state, about 90 m. E. by S. of Memphis, Tennessee. Pop. (1890) 2 1 i i; (1900) 3661, of whom 1174 were negroes. It is served by the Mobile & Ohio and the Southern railways; and by a branch of the Illinois Central connecting Jackson, Miss., and Birmingham, Ala. It has woollen mills, cotton compresses, clothing, furniture, and spoke and stave factories and machine shops, and is a cotton market. Because of its situation and its importance as a railway junction, Corinth played an important part in the western campaigns of the Civil War. After the first Confederate line of defence had been broken by the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson (February 1862), Corinth was fortified by General P. G. T. Beauregard, and was made the centre of the new line along the Memphis & Charleston railway, "the great East and West artery of the Confederacy." Grant's advance on this centre, then defended by General A. S. Johnston, led to the battle of Shiloh, fought on April 6/7 about 20 m. N.E. of Corinth; after this engagement Beauregard withdrew to Corinth. General H. W. Halleck, with a greatly superior force, cautiously and slowly advanced upon the Confederate position, consuming more than a month in the operation. During the night of the 29th of May Beauregard evacuated the place (which was occupied by the Federals on the following day), and re-established his line at Tupelo. Corinth then became the headquarters of the Union forces under General W. S. Rosecrans, who on the 3/4 of October 1862 was fiercely attacked here by General Earl von Dorn, whom he repulsed, both sides suffering considerable losses in killed and wounded, and the Confederates leaving many prisoners behind.