Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 2.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[413] into his hands. A Texan regiment had reached the counterscarp; these hardy soldiers descended into the ditch, scaled the opposite side, and were already forcing their way through the embrasures, led by the intrepid Colonel Rodgers, who was the first to spring into the work, holding a revolver in one hand and waving the flag of his State with the other. But he fell pierced with balls; the bravest among his followers shared his fate, and the others were repulsed. The Federals joined the Confederates in paying homage to this heroic man, and Rosecrans had the good taste to mention his name in the order of the day to his army, eulogizing him as highly as did Van Dorn in his own report. The unsuccessful assault upon Fort Robinett, together with the loss of Fort Richardson by Gates' brigade, determined the retreat of Price's whole army. The latter had done all that its commanders could exact of it; their honor was safe, but the army was beaten, and the sense of defeat soon broke up all the rules of discipline.

Lovell, on the right, had confined himself to some demonstrations against McKean and the Federal works erected on College Hill; but instead of the signal for which he was waiting to make a serious attack, he received orders, at eleven o'clock in the morning, to cover the precipitate retreat of the army. This bloody and decisive battle had not lasted more than one hour and a half. A mournful silence succeeded the tumult of the conflict. The remnants of the Confederate army rallied on the Chewalla road. Villepigue's brigade, of Lovell's division, formed the rear-guard. The Federals were scarcely in a condition to molest it, although McPherson had arrived at Corinth with one brigade just as the battle was closing. Finding the Bolivar road, upon which he was marching, occupied by the Confederates, he passed round their left, and entered Corinth by the east. But with so few troops he could not undertake the pursuit of the enemy; and Rosecrans, halting his soldiers as soon as they had reached the outer works, allowed them until the next day the rest which they so greatly needed. A similar respite was even more necessary for Van Dorn's army, for its defeat had been complete; according to Rosecrans' report, it had left upon the field of battle one thousand four hundred and twenty-three killed, and two thousand two hundred and forty-eight prisoners, nearly all of whom were wounded, fourteen