of Sisyphean offensive which preceded
his triumph at Vicksburg. No one who has not been in the heart of
things with fighting fleets or armies can realize what it means
to all ranks when there is, or even is supposed to be, "something
wrong" with the living pivot on which the whole force turns. And
only those who have been behind the scenes of war's all-testing
drama can understand what it means for even an imagined "failure"
to "come back."

Corinth was of immense importance to both sides, as it commanded
the rails not only east and west, from the Tennessee to Memphis,
but north and south, from the Ohio to New Orleans and Mobile. Though
New Orleans was taken by Farragut on the twenty-fifth of April, the
rails between Vicksburg and Port Hudson remained in Confederate
hands till next year; while Mobile remained so till the year after
that.

Beauregard collected all the troops he could at Corinth. Yet, even
with Van Dorn's and other reinforcements, he had only sixty thousand
effectives against Halleck's double numbers. Moreover, the loss of
three States and many battles had so shaken the Confederate forces
that they stood no chance whatever against Halleck's double numbers
in the open. All the same, Halleck burrowed slowly forward like a
mole, entrenching every night as if the respective strengths and
victories had been reversed.

After advancing nearly a mile a day Halleck closed in on Corinth.
He was so deeply entrenched that no one could tell from appearances
which side was besieging the other. Towards the end of May many
Federal railwaymen reported that empty trains could be heard running
into Corinth and full trains running out. But, as the Confederates
greeted each arriving "empty" with tremendous cheers, Halleck felt
sure that Beauregard was being greatly reinforced. The Confederate
bluff worked to admiration. On the twenty-sixth Beauregard issued
orders for complete evacuation on the twenty-ninth. On the thirtieth
Halleck drew up his whole grand army ready for a desperate defense
against an enemy that had already gone a full day's march away.

In the meantime the Federal flotilla had been fighting its way
down the Mississippi, under (the invalided) Foote's very capable
successor, Flag-Officer Charles Henry Davis. The Confederates had
very few naval men on the river, but many of their Mississippi
skippers were game to the death. They rammed Federal vessels on
the tenth of May at Fort Pillow, eighty miles above