"Before the city authorities undertook to license saloons there was as much whisky here as now, and it would take all my command as custom-house inspectors to break open all the parcels and packages containing liquor. I can destroy all groggeries and shops where soldiers get liquor, just as we would in St. Louis. "The newspapers are accusing me of cruelty to the sick; as base a charge as was ever made. I would not let the Sanitary Committee carry off a boat-load of sick, because I have no right to. We have good hospitals here, and plenty of them. Our regimental hospitals are in the camps of the men, and the sick do much better there than in the general hospitals; so say my division surgeon and the regimental surgeons. The civilian doctors would, if permitted, take away our entire command. General Curtis sends his sick up here, but usually no nurses; and it is not right that nurses should be taken from my command for his sick. I think that when we are endeavoring to raise soldiers and to instruct them, it is bad policy to keep them at hospitals as attendants and nurses." Early in September the Rebels, under Van Dorn, seriously menaced the line held by Grant's depleted army, and Grant had to call upon Sherman for aid. All through that month Sherman held Memphis with a mere handful of troops, and sent the rest of his forces out to make raids and draw Van Dorn's attention away from Grant. But at the opening of October the Rebels struck the blow they had so long threatened. Van Dorn made a furious attack upon Corinth. Rosecrans defended the place with equal vigor, and the Rebels were repulsed with dreadful slaughter. Unfortunately this Union victory was not followed up with sufficient celerity, and Van Dorn managed to retire to Holly Springs and there reorganize his shattered forces. But the victory at Corinth changed the condition of affairs throughout all that region. In Memphis the Secessionists admitted that their cause was lost. The Union army, so long on the defensive, resumed the offensive. Both sides were reinforced, and preparations were made for another act in the great drama. Of the Union reinforcements, two brigades were sent to Sherman, at Memphis, and he began drilling them for more serious work.