When the explosion occurred, on May 30th, Sherman asked Halleck if he had any idea what it meant. Halleck replied that he had not, and then ordered Sherman to move forward with his division and find out. Sherman did so, and lo! The Rebel works were abandoned, and Corinth itself was evacuated. On February 26th, Beauregard had commenced hurrying his sick troops and stores southward, on the night of the 28th he had sent the bulk of his effective force, and on the night of the 29th, the rear guard had fled, setting fire to the town and blowing up the magazine. The Rebel pickets had not been called in, nor even notified of the army's flight, so they fell into Sherman's hands, with the ruins of the town. And thus ingloriously ended the Siege of Corinth.
Following, is Sherman's official report of the capture of Corinth, dated May 30th, 1862.
"On the nineteenth instant, I reported the operations of this division in taking from the enemy the positions at Russel's. After driving the enemy away, we found it one of great natural strength, and proceeded to fortify it. Lines were laid off by the engineer, Captain Kossak, and a very excellent parapet was constructed by the men in a style that elicited the approval of General Halleck. Men worked day and night, and as soon as it was done and the dense trees and undergrowth cleared away in front, to give range to our batteries, I directed our pickets to drive the enemy further back behind a large open field to our front and right. This was handsomely executed by the regular detail of picket-guard under the direction of the field-officer of the day, Lieutenant-Colonel Loudon of the Seventieth Ohio.
"We remained in that intrenched camp at Russell's until the night of the 27th, when I received from Major-General Halleck an order by telegraph 'to send a force the next day to drive the Rebels from the house in our front on the Corinth road, to drive in their pickets as far as possible, and to make a strong demonstration on Corinth itself,' authorizing me to call on any adjacent divisions for assistance; I asked General McClernand for one brigade and General Hurlbut for another to co-operate with two brigades of my own division. Colonel John A. Logan's Brigade of General Judah's Division of McClernand's Reserve Corps, and General Veatch's Brigade of Hurlbut's Division, were placed subject to my orders, and took part with my own division in the operations of the two following days, and I now thank the officers and men of these brigades for the zeal and enthusiasm they manifested, and the alacrity they displayed in the execution of every order given.