IUKA, i-filat, Miss., a village on the Mem phis and Charleston railroad, in the northern part of the State, about 115 miles east of Mem phis, was the scene of a severe engagement dur ing the Civil War. Early in September, 1862, it was occupied by a small Union regiment as an outpost. On the morning of 13 September Gen. Sterling Price, moving north from Tupelo with a force of 14,000 men, to prevent Grant from sending reinforcements to General Buell in Kentucky, drove the Union regiment from the village and occupied it, and on the 19th was about moving to Rienzi on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad to form a junction with Earl Van Dorn's army preparatory to an attack upon Corinth. General Grant had been closely watching the movements of Price and Van Dorn, and when he heard that Price had occu pied Iuka he determined to attack and cut him off before he could effect a junction with Van Dorn. General Rosecrans, who was near Corinth with 9,000 men, was ordered to move south to Rienzi and Jacinto, then eastward, and marching on the roads from Jacinto and Ful ton, to attack Iulca from the south. General Ord, with 6,000 men, was to move along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad to Burns ville, thence by roads north of the railroad, and to attack on the north and west of Iuka. Grant accompanied Ord, 'who reached Burnsville on the 18th, and encamped within six miles of Iuka, which he proposed to attack early in the morning; 'but Grant, hearing that Rosecrans had been delayed in his movements and would not probably be up in time to attack next day, in structed Ord not to move to the attack until the sound of Rosecrans' guns was heard south of Iuka. Rosecrans, with the two divisions of Hamilton and Stanley, moved from Jacinto at 5 o'clock in the morning of the 19th and, after a march of 18 miles, at 4 P.M. his advance divi sion (Hamilton's), about two miles south of Iuka, encountered Little's division of Prices command, Maury's division remaining in the north of Iuka, to confront Ord. Little, who
was killed early in the engagement, had about 4000 men, with which he attacked Hamilton vigorously before the latter could complete his lines. After a very severe fight, Hamilton was driven back some 600 yards, abandoning nine guns; receiving three regiments of Stan ley's division as a reinforcement, he rallied and regained part of his lost ground, when darkness ended the fighting. General Prince reports: (The fight began, and was waged with a seventy I have never seen surpassed' Price prepared to renew the battle in the morning; but, convinced by his subordinates of the critical position he was in with Rosecrans in his front and Ord in rear, retreated southward by the Fulton road. which Rosecrans had failed to close as was in tended.
Ord did not hear the sounds of battle on the 19th, but, advancing on the morning of the 20th, found that Price had escaped. Pnee retreated southward and reached Baldwyn September. Rosecrans and Ord returned to Corinth. Rosecrans reported a loss of 141 killed, 613 wounded, and 36 missing. Price re ported a loss of 86 killed and 408 wounded; Union estimates placing it much higher. There were also a number of other engagements and skirmishes near luka a various periods of the war, notably on 22-23
13, 16, 20, 27 Sept. 1862; 7, 14 July 1863; 9 an., 17, 18 Feb. 1865. Consult Grant, U. S., < ersonal Memoirs' (2 vols., New York 1895) ; Greene, F. V.,
Mississippi' (New York 1882) ; Johnson, R. U. and C. C. Buel, ed.,