Rosecrans ordered Davies and MacArthur to maintain contact with one another, but as the Union lines advanced, the units radiated outward from Corinth so a gap appeared between the two units. When Oliver requested more help, Davies sent him Baldwin’s brigade and a pair of 20-pound rifles.

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An initial Confederate advance down the railroad tracks was driven back by cannon fire alone. Lovell then threw his whole division at the hill while Maury attacked Davies’ left.

As Lovell’s men emerged from cover, Union artillery tore holes in their ranks. Brigadier General Albert Rust’s brigade suffered 100 casualties within seconds. Knowing he could not afford to stop the attack, Rust ordered his men to fix bayonets and continue forward. Swinging wide to their left to avoid the railroad cut, the men charged forward with cheers and yells. The 9th Arkansas and 22nd Mississippi raced toward the crest, each unit trying to be the first there.

Facing the attack, MacArthur abruptly fell back, exposing Davies’ left. Davies ordered his troops to retreat to the division’s original position at the junction of Chewalla and Columbus roads, but a wounded messenger brought word that they were cut off from Davies, and would have to retreat with MacArthur. Davies coolly retreated in stages to a line 725 yards in front of Battery Robinett.

About 1 p.m., Rosecrans finally decided Corinth was Van Dorn’s objective. He ordered MacArthur and Oliver to retreat to a ridge and form on Davies’ left. At the same time, he ordered Stanley’s division to move up to support Davies.

Rosecrans saw the Confederate success that afternoon as an opportunity to attack. The Confederate left flank hung in the air, with Hamilton’s division behind Hébert’s lines. Rosecrans ordered Hamilton to attack the exposed enemy flank.

With an opportunity not merely to defeat the Confederates but to destroy their army, Hamilton fumbled his chance. When he received Rosecrans’ order to attack (after some confusion), he ordered his division to pivot to the left. Brigadier General Jeremiah Sullivan’s brigade was soon in position, but Brig. Gen. Napoleon Buford’s was delayed by Confederate skirmishers. Thinking they screened the Confederate lines, Buford followed them away from Sullivan. Because of the heavy forest, Hamilton had only one battery of field artillery. With only one small brigade and one battery, he decided not to attack.

On the Confederate right, Lovell stopped short of the Union lines when he encountered a half-mile-wide abatis. He thought the position too strong to attack, but saw that there were no defenses to his left, in front of Maury. He reported this information to Van Dorn.

At about 3 p.m. the Confederates attacked. For an hour and a half, Davies’ 11 guns kept them at bay, firing over 1,500 rounds. Twice Davies had to resupply them. When they finally ran out of ammunition, Davies ordered his gunners back to the line at Battery Robinett. The artillery filed slowly to the rear, men looking more like coal-heavers than soldiers, with perspiration streaming down their faces blackened with gunpowder, and the wounded horses leaving a stream of blood in the road, he reported.

As the Confederates came closer, the infantry opened fire. For a while it seemed that they would run out of ammunition too, but at about 5 p.m. more was distributed. In the 52nd Illinois, some gun barrels were so hot from firing that the charges exploded when the men tried to load their rifles.

Finally, Brig. Gen. John Moore’s brigade of Maury’s division got around MacArthur’s right, forcing him to fall back. Worried about his left flank, Davies ordered his division to retreat to the final line at Battery Robinett.

Each commander believed that with one more hour of daylight, he could have won the battle that day. Van Dorn believed he would have broken through the Union front, while Rosecrans believed Hamilton would have rolled up the Confederate left.

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