18621776 Club
Union patrols walk into Corinth and find it empty; Beauregard's army slipped out in the night
Beauregard ran empty trains through town all night, whistles shrieking and troops cheering, while his 45,000 men marched south toward Tupelo, leaving Halleck's 120,000 with a ghost town.
On the morning of May 30, 1862, Union patrols crept into Corinth, Mississippi, and found it empty. General P. G. T. Beauregard had spent the night running empty trains back and forth through the town — whistles shrieking, troops cheering as if fresh reinforcements were pouring in — while his 45,000-man Army of Mississippi slipped south toward Tupelo. General Henry Halleck's 120,000-man force had spent a month digging toward the town, and Beauregard handed it over without a fight…
