Key to Corinth—Battery Robinette
500 signed and numbered fine art prints
25 artist proofs
On 3-4 October 1862, the Confederate Army of West Tennessee commanded by Major General Earl Van Dorn and including Major General Sterling Price’s forces that fought at Iuka two weeks before, attacked the important railroad crossroads at Corinth, Mississippi. The Federal Army of the Mississippi commanded by Major General William S. Rosecrans defended the town, having strengthened its defenses with a series of earthenworks and batteries.
The most important of the Corinth defenses was Battery Robinett. It sat on a ridge some 200 yards north of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. A triangular lunette (three-sided field fort), Battery Robinett consisted of a double level of gabions (wicker baskets filled with dirt and stones), topped with fascines (bundles of sticks used to reinforce a trench wall). A line of earthenworks extended to the south of the battery to the railroad, fronted by a deep ditch. The fort boasted three massive 20-pounder cannon manned by its namesake, Lieutenant Henry C. Robinett and Company “C” of the 1st United States Infantry (Regulars).
On 4 October, the second day of the battle, the three brigades of Confederate Brigadier General Dabney H. Maury’s division attacked at midday. Private J.A. McKinstry of the 42nd Alabama Infantry described the attack. “In front of us was the most obstructive abattis (felled trees with the branches facing toward the enemy) that it was my misfortune to encounter …,” he lamented, “the forts (belched) destruction into our ranks; yet our men did not waver or halt … when about half through the abattis, Robinett changed shells for grape and canister on us. Our yells grew fainter and our men fell faster, but at last we reached the unobstructed ground in front of the fort …”
One Union soldier, Cloyd Bryner of the 47th Illinois Infantry, described the scene. “Grape and canister tore terrible lanes through the Confederate ranks … but the determined men of Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi never faltered.” Bryner continued, “Upon the advancing lines the 47th were pouring a deadly enfilading fire with telling effect, the guns of Robinett were double charged and the redoubt was a circle of flame. Magnificently mounted and bearing the Confederate colors aloft, Colonel Rogers of Texas led the line of gray, led them to the very edge of the ditch which he was in the act of leaping when the Ohio Brigade arose and delivered a murderous fire, before which the Confederates recoiled …”
Colonel William P. Rogers, commanding the 2nd Texas Infantry, was a Mexican War veteran and a prominent attorney before the Civil War. Shown mounted on a black mare and carrying the flag of the 2nd Texas, he led several regiments in the charge on Battery Robinett. In their fury, the Confederates seized the parapet and drove the defenders from their guns. Lt. Robinett and 13 of his 26 men were casualties in the battery. In desperation, Captain George Williams fired two shells from nearby Battery Williams into the masses of Confederates swarming into Battery Robinett, stalling their attack just long enough for the remnants of Colonel John W. Fuller’s Ohio brigade to stem their advance. A fierce hand-to-hand struggle ensued. “Oh we were butchered like dogs,” lamented Lt. Labruzan. The gallant colonel and his horse fell beside a large tree stump, his body riddled seven times (his attempt to surrender ignored by the Federals).
According to Cloyd Bryner, “In front of Fort Robinett the Confederate dead lay piled from three to seven deep; for a hundred feet the bodies lay so close it was almost impossible to walk between them.” The Confederate attack would penetrate into Corinth but ultimately fail.
Key to Corinth—Battery Robinett Artist Proof $210.00 [Add to Cart]
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Key to Corinth—Battery Robinett Prints $160.00 [Add to Cart]
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