Battle of Iuka

Battle of Iuka
Part of the American Civil War

Battle of Iuka, Miss., September 19, 1862
DateSeptember 19, 1862 (1862-09-19)
Location
Result Union victory
Belligerents
 United States (Union)  Confederate States of America
Commanders and leaders
Ulysses S. Grant
William Rosecrans
Edward O. C. Ord
Braxton Bragg
Sterling Price
Earl Van Dorn
Units involved
Army of the Mississippi
Army of the Tennessee
Army of the West
Strength
~4,500[1] 3,179[1]
Casualties and losses
790 total
(144 killed;
598 wounded;
40 captured/missing)[2]
1,516 total
(263 killed;
692 wounded;
561 captured/missing)[2]

The Battle of Iuka was fought on September 19, 1862, in Iuka, Mississippi, during the American Civil War. In the opening battle of the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans stopped the advance of the Confederate Army of the West commanded by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price.

Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant brought two armies to confront Price in a double envelopment: Rosecrans's Army of the Mississippi, approaching Iuka from the southwest, and three divisions of his own Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, approaching from the northwest. Although Grant and Ord planned to attack in conjunction with Rosecrans when they heard the sound of battle, an acoustic shadow suppressed the sound and prevented them from realizing that the battle had begun. After an afternoon of fighting, entirely by Rosecrans's men, the Confederates withdrew from Iuka on a road that had not been blocked by the Union army, marching to rendezvous with Confederate Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, with whom they would soon fight the Second Battle of Corinth against Rosecrans.

  1. ^ a b Eicher, p. 372.
  2. ^ a b Eicher, p. 374. Lamers, p. 115, cites 790 Union casualties (141 killed, 613 wounded, and 36 missing) and 1,438 Confederate. Korn, p. 37, cites 825 Union casualties, including 141 killed, and 693 Confederate, including 86 killed. Woodworth, p. 223, cites 790 Union casualties, 525 Confederate. The National Park Service battle summary Archived April 4, 2005, at the Wayback Machine cites 782 Union casualties, 700 Confederate.

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