Corinth, Siege of

The Siege of Corinth (also known as the First Battle of Corinth) is an American Civil War engagement lasting from April 29 to May 30, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi.

A collection of Union forces under the overall command of Major General Henry Halleck engaged in a month-long siege of the city, whose Confederate occupants are commanded by General P.G.T. Beauregard.

The siege results in the capture of the town by Federal forces.

The town is a strategic point at the junction of two vital railroad lines, the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

Former Confederate Secretary of War LeRoy Pope Walker calls this intersection "the vertebrae of the Confederacy".

General Halleck argues: "Richmond and Corinth are now the great strategic points of the war, and our success at these points should be insured at all hazards".

Another reason for the town's importance is that, if captured by Union forces, it will threaten the security of Chattanooga and render Southern control of the track west of that East Tennessee bastion meaningless.

The siege ends when the outnumbered Confederates withdraw on May 29.

This effectively cuts off the prospect of further Confederate attempts to regain western Tennessee.

The Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant take control and make it the base for Grant's operations to seize control of the Mississippi River Valley, and especially the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi

With the siege of Corinth completed, Federal troops have the opportunity to strike towards Vicksburg or Chattanooga, but it will be after the Second Battle of Corinth that October that Grant can strike for Vicksburg.

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