“I am still pursuing the enemy.  The woods are full of stragglers.  Some of my officers estimate their number as high as ten thousand.  Many have already come into my lines.”

[Illustration:  THE CARONDELET RUNNING THE BATTERIES AT ISLAND NO. 10]

Pope sent this dispatch, without alteration, to General Halleck.  From the latter it went to the country that “General Pope reported ten thousand prisoners captured below Corinth.”  It served to cover up the barrenness of the Corinth occupation, and put the public in good-humor.  General Halleck received credit for the success of his plans.  When it came out that no prisoners of consequence had been taken, the real author of the story escaped unharmed.

At the time of his departure to re-enforce the army before Corinth, General Pope left but a single brigade of infantry, to act in conjunction with our naval forces in the siege of Fort Pillow.  This brigade was encamped on the Arkansas shore opposite Fort Pillow, and did some very effective fighting against the musquitos, which that country produces in the greatest profusion.  An attack on the fort, with such a small force, was out of the question, and the principal aggressive work was done by the navy at long range.

On the 10th of May, the Rebel fleet made an attack upon our navy, in which they sunk two of our gun-boats, the Mound City and the Cincinnati, and returned to the protection of Fort Pillow with one of their own boats disabled, and two others somewhat damaged.  Our sunken gun-boats were fortunately in shoal water, where they were speedily raised and repaired.  Neither fleet had much to boast of as the result of that engagement.

The journalists who were watching Fort Pillow, had their head-quarters on board the steamer John H. Dickey, which was anchored in midstream.  At the time of the approach of the Rebel gun-boats, the Dickey was lying without sufficient steam to move her wheels, and the prospect was good that she might be captured or destroyed.  Her commander, Captain Mussleman, declared he was not in that place to stop cannon-shot, and made every exertion to get his boat in condition to move.  His efforts were fully appreciated by the journalists, particularly as they were successful.  The Dickey, under the same captain, afterward ran a battery near Randolph, Tennessee, and though pierced in every part by cannon-shot and musket-balls, she escaped without any loss of life.

As soon as the news of the evacuation of Corinth was received at Cairo, we looked for the speedy capture of Fort Pillow.  Accordingly, on the 4th of June, I proceeded down the river, arriving off Fort Pillow on the morning of the 5th.  The Rebels had left, as we expected, after spiking their guns and destroying most of their ammunition.  The first boat to reach the abandoned fort was the Hetty Gilmore, one of the smallest transports in the fleet.  She landed a little party, which took possession, hoisted the flag, and declared the fort, and all it contained, the property of the United States.  The Rebels were, by this time, several miles distant, in full retreat to a safer location.