Battle of Iuka Part 1

In my continuing chase to understand every major battle of the Civil War, I've decided to do another mini-study....this time on the Battle of Iuka, Mississippi. This first part is about the events leading up to the battle. Part 2 will be the battle itself.

On September 14, 1862, Colonel Robert C. Murphy snuck into Iuka, MS before sunrise in order to set fire to some supply depots. Iuka was a Union supply depot for the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Murphy and his men were stationed in Corinth, about 20 miles east of Iuka.

When the Confederates, who happened to be in Iuka at the time, saw the fires, they quickly put the flames out and then rescued whatever supplies they could get. It seems that they were able to get a pretty good haul from the Union army.

General Ulysses S. Grant was furious. He arrested Col. Murphy and had him court-martialed.

In the meantime, Major General Sterling Price (CSA) waited in Iuka for Major General Earl Van Dorn and his Army of Western Tennessee. The plan was that they were going to combine forces and attack Grant's communications in western Tennessee. If Grant did what they thought he was going to do, they planned to overtake him and eventually destroy the army.

What they didn't plan on, was that Grant didn't wait for Van Dorn's army to arrive. He sent Major General Edward Ord to Iuka following the Memphis and Charleston Railroad from the northwest. Then he sent Major General William S. Rosecrans into Iuka from the southwest....following the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. This meant that Van Dorn was completely cut off and couldn't get to Price.

The battle was on!

In order to put this battle into context with the rest of the Civil War, notice the date: Sept. 14, 1862 (when all this started)...this is the exact date of the Battle for South Mountain. Three days later would be the Battle of Antietam. The Battle of Iuka will actually take place on Sept. 19, 1862. By looking at what else was happening in the Civil War, we can get a better feel for just how strong the armies were, how they were thinking, how experienced they were, and how much longer they had to go. This helps in studying the Civil War and understanding why events happened in the way that they did.