Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 19.djvu/200

 194 Southern Historical Society Papers.

moving finely by sundown, and all the enemy's line before us in full retreat at a run, and falling back into their wagon trains ; when, by misapprehension on the part of the commander with our advanced troops, the pursuit was arrested, our forces withdrawn from the attack to go into bivouac, and the enemy was permitted to quietly reorganize his army and prepare for a combined attack upon us in the morning. During the night we found that most of our batteries and regiments had exhausted their amunition, and the ordnance train, with all the reserve amunition, had been sent away, fifteen miles back, on the road along which we had come, and the enemy lay between. There was nothing left for Van Dorn but to get his train on the road to Van Buren and his army off by the same route and to fight enough to secure them. This he did, and marched away unmolested.

THE ARMY OF THE WEST,

Arrived at Van Buren, Van Dorn addressed himself to the com- pletion of the reorganization of his army, thenceforth known as the Army of the West, and it was there he gave an illustration of true magnanimity very rarely known in ambitious men by the offer he made to move with all his forces to reinforce General Sidney John- ston at Corinth. By this he surrendered the great independent com- mand of the Trans-Mississippi Department and all the plans he had formed for the sake of his views of the best interests of their common country, and became a subordinate commander of an army corps instead of the com mander-in- chief of an army. He hoped to reach Johnston in time for the battle of Shiloh, and had he done so, would have given a very different result to that critical battle. But Shiloh had been fought and our army, under Beauregard, was occupying the works of Corinth when Van Dorn, with the Army of the West, sixteen thousand effectives, reached that point. We lay near Corinth more than six weeks, and three times offered battle to Halleck, who, with one hundred thousand men, was cautiously advancing as if to attack us. Three times our army (forty thousand strong) marched out of its entrenchments and advanced to meet Halleck and give him battle, but every time he drew back and declined it. In every coun- cil Van Dorn's voice was for war. May 30, 1862, Beauregard evac- uated his works in a masterly manner, and marched south unmo- lested to Tupelo, when he halted the army and held it ready for bat- tle. In June Van Dorn was ordered to go to Vicksburg, which was threatened with attack, and was in poor condition for defence. He evinced here great energy and ability. He repulsed the enemy's