Our Whole Front was Swarming with Butternuts: A Missouri Gunner at Corinth

Lying in battery on the north side of Corinth during the fight on October 4, 1862, Sergeant Charles Van Horn of Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery witnessed the grand Confederate assault that spread out before him “like a huge wedge in front of our battery and spread from right to left in a complete line of battle and advanced upon us on the double quick all the time. 24 pieces of artillery were pouring shot and shell into them which made great holes in their ranks but on they came, paying no attention to our artillery.”

          “When they were within 50 yards of our battery, I was struck by a musket ball in the left breast, the same ball passing through my left arm and splintering it so badly that I had to have it amputated the same day, although I did not say so in my other letter,” he informed his parents.

Sergeant Van Horn’s account of the Battle of Corinth first saw publication in the October 28, 1862, edition of the Zanesville Daily Courier in his hometown of Zanesville, Ohio.

A Federal gun crew stands at attention surrounding their piece; if you look closely, you can see an additional sponge rammer slung beneath the carriage next to the bucket. 

Corinth, Mississippi

October 21, 1862

Dear father and mother,

          You are anxious to hear the particulars of the fight and of my being wounded. Well to start, we went into action on Friday the 3rd at 10 a.m. and fought until dark put an end to it. Our battery was engaged the whole time and the Rebels drove us all day, making several desperate charges on our battery but failing to capture it. So, they made a desperate charge of Battery D of our regiment [1st Missouri Light Artillery] and took one gun, then they made a charge on Battery H and succeeded in taking two of their guns which they have got yet. This closed Friday.

          At half past 2 on Saturday morning, the Rebels began to shell the town but their batteries were soon silenced. Skirmishing commenced along the whole line between the pickets and lasted until about half past 9 when a large body of the enemy were advancing and soon our whole front was swarming with Butternuts. They advanced like a huge wedge in front of our battery and spread from right to left in a complete line of battle and advanced upon us on the double quick all the time. 24 pieces of artillery were pouring shot and shell into them which made great holes in their ranks but on they came, paying no attention to our artillery.

          When they were within 50 yards of our battery, I was struck by a musket ball in the left breast, the same ball passing through my left arm and splintering it so badly that I had to have it amputated the same day, although I did not say so in my other letter. It is off above the elbow or about the middle of the muscle but I am doing very well. I laid in bed but one day and I have been walking around more of less ever since. So you need not make yourselves uneasy about me for I get the best of care of any wounded man in this hospital. It is our own hospital and I have two men waiting on me from the company which no other man has. The doctor pays particular attention to me and is doing all in his power to heal my wounds. He has told me a dozen times that I am getting along better than anybody he ever saw with the same wound.

          It is now 18 days since I was wounded and my arm is almost healed up with the exception of one or two sore places and with another week I will be almost entirely well. The doctor wants me to go home but I want to stay until I can get paid and then I will come. That will be in about 20 days and then I will be completely well enough to travel without any danger to myself. So I hope you don’t worry yourselves about me for my wounds don’t trouble me a bit and the doctor says that I keep up spirits better than he expected. So that is the story of my wounded and then I have got so many visitors, more than I can entertain at one time. You can guess what kind of care is taken of me so if I don’t get well, it will not be for want of care.

          But if I go on telling you of my wounds I cannot tell of the battle. After I was shot my men kept on fighting until the Rebels drove the men from their pieces and the first section of our battery was taken, but the second section was taken off the field. My piece was saved from capture by a brave man whose name is Benjamin Poole. He is a Scotsman by birth and as brave a man as there is in the army. The second section gets all the praise of my company commander and I must say that I belong to that section and am called the hero of Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery.

          There are two sergeants denounced as cowards for running away from the field of battle and leaving their pieces in the hands of the enemy, but the pieces were recaptured again. One of the sergeants was reduced to the ranks last evening and the other will meet the same fate in a few days and men put in their places who will stand fire. You must excuse this writing for I have to write with one hand.

          Write as soon as you get this.

Sergeant C.A. Van Horn

Source:

Letter from Sergeant Charles A. Van Horn, Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery, Zanesville Daily Courier (Ohio), October 28, 1862, pg. 2


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