By Mrs. Don Watkins
This is the article written by the Rev. Robert J. Burdette, who was a Union Soldier. This incident occurred at the Battle of Corinth. The writer found this article in a book at the local library, and it was taken from the Booneville Banner, Booneville, Mississippi, in the July 11, 1912 issue of their newspaper.

The viewpoint of the Union soldier of an incident that occurred at the battle of Corinth is worthy of being included in this scrapbook history of Corinth, as it reveals the physical condition of the soldiers in gray who fought in this battle.

"We found a dead Confederate soldier lying on his back, his outstretched fingers stretched across the stock of the rifle lying by his side. He was one of the Rogers' Texans. Fifty seven of them we had found lying in the ditch of Fort Robinette. I covered his face with a slouch hat and took off the haversack slung to his neck, that it might not swing as we carried him to his sleeping chamber, so cool and quiet and dark, after the savage tumult and dust and smoke after that day of horror.
"Empty, isn't it?" asked the soldier working with me. I put my hand in it and drew forth a handful of roasted acorns; I showed them to my comrade.
"That's all," I said.
"And he has been fighting like a tiger for two days on that forage," he commented. We gazed at the face of the dead soldier with new feelings.
By and by he said:
"I hate this war and the things that caused it. I was taught to hate slavery before I was taught to hate sin. I love the Union as I love my mother-better. I think that this is the wickedest war that was ever waged in modern times. But this," and he took some of the acorn from my hand-"this is what I call patriotism."
"Comrade," I said, "I am going to send these home to the Peoria Transcript. I want them to tell the editor this war won't be ended until there is a total failure of the acorn crop. I want the folks at home to know what manner of men they and we are fighting."
"That was early in my experience as a soldier. It never changed my opinion of the cause of the Confederacy."
"I was more and more devoted to the Union as the war went on. But I never questioned the sincerity of the men in the Confederacy again. I realized how dearly a man must love his own section who would fight for it on parched acorn. I wished that his love and patriotism had been broader, reaching from the Gulf to the Lakes, a love for the Union rather than for a State. But I understood him, I hated his attitude toward the Union as much as ever but I admired the man. And after Corinth I never could get a prisoner half way to the rear and have anything left in my haversack.
"Oh, I too have suffered the pangs of hunger for my dear country, as all soldiers have done, now and then. But not as that Confederate soldier did. We went hungry at times when rain and mud or the interference of the enemy detained the supply train. But that man half starved. That's different.
"Other haversacks we found that night on Corinth field with a slight ration in them. Sometimes it was a chunk of corn pone. I used to think hard tack filled the order for concrete breakfast slab. But cone pone a week old reconciled me to soft food. Hard tack for mine."
"So the Southern people loved the states for which they suffered."
This is signed by the Rev. Robert J. Burdette, a gallant Union soldier.

Excerpt from a diary by a German Chaplain in the Union Army at Corinth.

This morning the Colonel ordered me to ride over to the headquarters of General (Lew) Wallace situated a few miles distant (in order to get more news). There I learned that the enemy has not only left Corinth, but seems to have disappeared without leaving a trace. They pulled off their old trick of (setting up) wooden cannons, so that we were kept at a respectful distance for the last 14 days, erecting one earthwork fortification after another, the while Beauregard has had time to pull out his troops and leave (us) the frustration and the empty nest. What makes it so ridiculous is that we never noticed anything and haven’t the faintest idea where they went. In America it seems to be easier to find a counterfeiter or a horse thief than (to be able to track down) enemy troops. June 1st, Exaudi Sunday