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Texas hero falls at Battery Robinett
On this day in 1862, on the second day of the battle of Corinth,
Mississippi, Confederate general Earl Van Dorn called for a series of
headlong frontal attacks against a heavily fortified federal position.
Col. William Peleg Rogers of the Second Texas Infantry was ordered to
lead the vanguard of the assault on Battery Robinett, a small fort
anchoring the center of the Union line. After one bloody repulse, Rogers
led a second desperate charge. Remaining on horseback in the face of a
barrage of cannon and musket fire, and finally carrying the regimental
colors himself, Rogers reached the deep trench fronting Battery
Robinett, dismounted, and led several hundred Texans and Alabamans down
into the trench, up the steep embankment, and into the fort. Suddenly
federal reinforcements closed in from both flanks. Rogers shouted, "Men,
save yourselves or sell your lives as dearly as possible." A few seconds
later he was struck by multiple rifle shots and died instantly. Scores
of others fell with him, and the battle soon ended. The Second Texas
Infantry had lost more than half its numbers in casualties. The failure
of Rogers's attack sealed Van Dorn's defeat at Corinth. In a remarkable
tribute to Rogers's personal bravery, Union general William S. Rosecrans
ordered his burial attended with full military honors, a ceremony
normally reserved only for Confederate general officers.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- ROGERS, WILLIAM PELEG
- SECOND TEXAS INFANTRY
- VAN DORN, EARL
- CIVIL WAR
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Thomas S. Gathright takes charge of new A&M College (1876)
- Smallpox breaks out in Laredo (1898)
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