12 Noon, October 4,1862. Surging past the disintegrating Federal defenses around Battery Powell, elements of the Third Arkansas Dismounted Cavalry and Stirman's Arkansas Sharpshooters were led by their brigade commander, Brigadier General C.W. Phifer, on foot and waving his hat to urge his men forward. They were joined by The Fifteenth and Twenty-third Arkansas Regiments of Brigadier General John C. Moore's Brigade along with most of the Thirty-fifth Mississippi. The Confederates rushed into the center of Corinth, past the Federal headquarters of Major General William S. Rosecrans to the very center of town where the Memphis & Charleston Rail Road crossed the Mobile & Ohio. The Tishmingo Hotel, the two story brick building with the double porches in the upper left of the painting, stood adjacent to the crossroads. Soon, Mississippians and Missourians of Colonel W.H. Moore's Brigade joined with the fray at the crossroads, following the unique red-with white-stars-and-crescent-moon Van Dorn flag of Army of West Tennessee.

The Federals soon counterattacked, led by Colonel John V. DuBois at the front of the Seventh, Fiftieth and Fifty-seventh Illinois. Confederate Brigade Commander Col. W.H. Moore was shot down near the rail road depot, pictured above next to the Tishmingo Hotel, and the Illinoisans drove the Rebels 150 yards though town before they were struck with shot from their own artillery which almost struck Federal Division commander Brigadier General Thomas A. Davies. Just before 1PM, the Seventeenth Iowa, which had been held in reserve, rushed forward to a low rise just north of town and began to pick off the Confederates. Then the Iowans charged into Corinth, striking the rear of the Rebel mass as they attempted to retreat. Scores of Missourians and Mississippians were captured.

"Decision at the Crossroads" by Keith Rocco. Used by permission of the artist. Text source: "The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth" by Peter Cozzens. University of North Carolina Press.