The Cozzens book is a particularly good window into both Iuka and Cornith, and you're correct, they are often woefully overlooked for the strategic importance they played in setting the stage for Vicksburg. Another book, Ben Earl Kitchens' "Rosecrans Meets Price: The Battle of Iuka, Mississippi," is also a very good reference on these fights in northern Mississippi that followed on the heels of Shiloh.

I have been to both Iuka and Corinth, and the very-much-off-the-beaten path location of the "Hatchie Bridge," as well. The battleground at Iuka is developed. In fact, the roadside motel I stayed in pretty much straddles the line where most of the fighting took place. The Shady Grove Cemetery trench, a Confederate mass grave, is a well maintained yet a somber reminder of the anonymity of the war's casualties.

Corinth is also rather developed, but the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center operated by the National Parks Service is (or was when I was there) exceptional. The re-creation of Battery Robinett, along with the still-active railroad line it faces, give a great sense of the heaviest fighting of Corinth II.

I'd wholeheartedly recommend the trip. It's a pretty easy day-trip drive from almost anywhere in Arkansas, if you cross the Mississippi at Memphis. But, I'd also recommend staying the night in either Iuka or Corinth to allow enough time for a second day of exploration as the sites are far enough apart to merit the overnight, and the Corinth Center is worth spending a few hours taking in. Of course, if you tack on Shiloh, then you're looking at a full weekend's worth of inter-related battlefield interpretation.

-Chip