attack. The Confederates made a stout resistance, but were finally driven back and forced to retreat to Corinth. The Unionists lost between thirteen and fourteen thousand, and the Confederates between ten and eleven thousand.[210] The general notion prevailed in the North that this greatest battle that had as yet been fought in America, was saved only by the arrival of Buell. Grant’s confidence in the outcome, even after the first day’s repulse, amounted to a calmness that was interpreted by many as stolid indifference.[211] [Illustration: GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG.] =479. Capture of Corinth and Memphis.=—After the defeat of the Confederates at Pittsburg Landing, or, as it is more frequently called in the South, at Shiloh, the Union force pressed on and took possession of Corinth. In March, a fleet of gunboats, supported by an army under Major General John Pope, after surmounting many and great difficulties, succeeded in opening the Mississippi River from Cairo to Memphis. In June, Memphis was taken, after one of the most remarkable naval engagements of the war. The river was soon afterward opened as far south as Vicksburg. The lower Mississippi had been opened by the taking of New Orleans in April (§ 488). =480. The Battle of Pea Ridge.=—While Grant had been pushing south in Kentucky and Tennessee, General S. R. Curtis had also been successful in the farther West. The Confederates, under General Van Dorn, organized in the beginning of the year a force of about sixteen thousand, including thirty-five hundred Indians, for the purpose of recovering Missouri. General Curtis, supported by General Sigel, advanced across the Arkansas line with ten thousand five hundred Union troops. The forces met at Pea Ridge (March 6). The Confederates were defeated; and after that time no very important battle occurred west of the Mississippi River. [Illustration: GENERAL W. S. ROSECRANS.] =481. Bragg’s Raid into Kentucky.=—After the losses of Shiloh and Corinth, General Beauregard’s impaired health caused him to be superseded by General Braxton Bragg,[212] a capable commander, who now determined to break through the Union lines, and, if possible, recover Tennessee and Kentucky for the Confederacy. Advancing to the eastern part of Tennessee, early in September, he turned suddenly north in the hope of marching across Kentucky and taking Louisville; but Buell advanced along a shorter line and reached Louisville before the Confederates, thus saving the principal city of the state. After much maneuvering, an indecisive battle was fought at Perryville, October 8; but the Confederates were checked. They were obliged to abandon their attempt to secure a permanent foothold and had to content themselves with carrying south long trains of supplies. Though Buell’s pursuit was not vigorous, he drove Bragg out of Kentucky. At the end of the raid, the Confederates set up defenses at Chattanooga, while the headquarters of the Union army were at Nashville.