[CIVIL WAR]. DENVER, James W. (1817-1892). Autograph letter signed ("J.W. Denver") as brigadier general, describing the May 1862 siege and battle of Corinth. "Camp No. 8, near Corinth, Miss," 1 June 1862.

8 pages, 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. Creased, with some toning to creases. With postally used cover addressed to Mrs. L. C. Denver of Wilmington, OH.

In this letter to his wife, General Denver opens, "I have been to the mythical place called Corinth, the capture of which you have no doubt heard ere this, and so I will tell you how it happened."

He tells of his advance to "Russell's house," where his unit threw up long lines of breastworks in one night before exchanging fire with the enemy at the front. On 28 May, he was ordered to move forward, driving the enemy from their position. As such, General Morgan Smith moved forward on the main road while Denver's brigade advanced through the woods until they came to a clearing, where he explained the "tug of war" began.

"Pushing the skirmishers forward into the open field, with a cheer they rushed forward to the opposite woods, followed at no great distance by the main column. The Battery remained stationary until we got across when they came forward and took up a new position in the woods near another field to the south...In a short time one of our skirmishers came in and reported that he had heard a rebel officer making a speech to his men, exhorting them to be firm and determined, to drive the Yankees back &c. who from the description is supposed to have been John C. Breckenridge. In a little while the head of their column appeared over the hill driving our skirmishers before them. They contested the ground however pretty well, but a cloud of skirmishers could do very little against a heavy column of infantry in mass, supported by cavalry and artillery. As soon as the enemy appeared over the hill our artillery opened on them, and you can judge of the rapidity of the firing when I tell you that our guns fired more than a hundred and fifty shots in less than three minutes."

Once the enemy fell back and the fighting ceased for that day, Denver and his men went to work on the entrenchments, and passed a couple of days of relatively little action until Denver says he was "startled by a series of extraordinary explosions in the direction of Corinth." I received orders to take two regiments, a battery, and some cavalry forward. "Taking a hasty breakfast we crossed the field, halted the artillery and cavalry on the ridge, which crosses the field parallel to our position, formed the infantry in the edge of the woods, deployed the skirmishers and pushed forward through thick timber and a dense growth of underbrush. Our pickets reported the enemy in force just in our front and we waited with feverish anxiety for the skirmishers to engage them. Not a gun was fired, however, and putting the column in motion I hastened forward to see what was going on."

Once Denver reached his skirmishers, they discovered an opening in the forest from which they could fully view the enemy's fortifications. Multiple officers offered to go forward alone to figure out whether any enemies were there, one to whom Denver admonished not to be foolish, and the other to whom Denver asked to do another task. Apparently, the latter officer did not understand what Denver meant, and took his request as an acceptance of his offer. This officer, named Captain Clarke, rode into the field and toward the fortifications on horseback. Denver calls this a "very bold and daring" act.

"There we stood in the most intense excitement. he approached the rifle pits. He is now in two hundred yards of them. Will the enemy fire on a single horseman or let him approach and capture him? A hundred yards and yet no shot! In another instant he crosses the pits, turns, waves his arm for us to come on and then makes a dash for the great bastion, some two hundred yards further on. With a cheer our men dashed forward on a run but almost before they had got under way the gallant captain was waving his cap from the summit of the bastion itself. The works had all been deserted - the enemy had fled."

Denver then realized that the explosions heard had been the enemy blowing up their own magazines of ammunition before evacuating the town. Denver describes the deserted town with awe: "But what a sight! Nine tenths of the houses were deserted and nearly half the town was a smouldering heap of ruins from which the smoke and flames were bursting continually. Nearly every house in the town had been used as a storehouse or as a hospital for the Confederate army."

Denver calls the victory a bloodless, yet valuable one that was won "by steady perseverance and industry."

James W. Denver, for whom the city of Denver is named, had a long and storied career in the realms of the military, politics, and business. After attending law school and practicing law in Xenia, OH, he served as an officer during the Mexican War, participating in the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the Garetas. He then moved to California, was elected to Congress, became the territory governor of Kansas (including Colorado), and served as the commissioner of Indian Affairs, all before being appointed a brigadier general of volunteers by President Lincoln. He served for around two years, resigning on 5 March 1863. He returned to the practice of law after the war, and eventually died in Washington, DC in August of 1892.