Perryville
Civil War in Kentucky

American Civil War
October 8, 1862

Confederate Heartland Campaign Map

Confederate General Braxton Bragg's autumn 1862 invasion of Kentucky had reached the outskirts of Louisville and Cincinnati, but he was forced to retreat and regroup.

On October 7, the Federal army of Major General Don Carlos Buell, numbering nearly 55,000, converged on the small crossroads town of Perryville, Kentucky, in three columns.   Union forces first skirmished with Rebel cavalry on the Springfield Pike before the fighting became more general, on Peters Hill, as the grayclad infantry arrived.

The next day, at dawn, fighting began again around Peters Hill as a Union division advanced up the pike, halting just before the Confederate line. The fighting then stopped for a time. After noon, a Confederate division struck the Union left flank and forced it to fall back.

When more Confederate divisions joined the fray, the Union line made a stubborn stand, counter attacked, but finally fell back with some troops routed. Buell did not know of the happenings on the field, or he would have sent forward some reserves. Even so, the Union troops on the left flank, reinforced by two brigades, stabilized their line, and the Rebel attack sputtered to a halt.

Later, a Rebel brigade assaulted the Union division on the Springfield Pike but was repulsed and fell back into Perryville. The Yankees pursued, and skirmishing occurred in the streets in the evening before dark.

Union reinforcements were threatening the Rebel left flank by now. Bragg, short of men and supplies, withdrew during the night, and, after pausing at Harrodsburg, continued the Confederate retrograde by way of Cumberland Gap into East Tennessee.

The Confederate offensive was over, and the Union controlled Kentucky.

Result(s): Union strategic victory

Location: Boyle County

Campaign: Confederate Heartland Offensive (1862) Previous Battle in Campaign Campaigns

Date(s): October 8, 1862

Principal Commanders: Major General Don Carlos Buell [US]; General Braxton Bragg [CS]

Forces Engaged: Army of the Ohio [US]; Army of the Mississippi [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 7,407 total (US 4,211; CS 3,196)

Additional Reading


War in Kentucky: From Shiloh to Perryville

by James Lee McDonough
By mid 1862, Union gains in the Mississippi Valley and in Tennessee and Kentucky had brought the Confederacy to a point of strategic crisis. This valuable addition to the growing literature on the Civil War in the West tells how the Union then failed to press home its advantage while the Confederacy failed to force Kentucky into the Confederacy. The climax of these events was the little-known Battle of Perryville, in which a greatly inferior Southern force under Braxton Bragg managed a draw against Don Carlos Buell's Union army but also effectively terminated the Confederate invasion of Kentucky. McDonough has researched thoroughly and written clearly, making this book informative and accessible to a wide range of Civil War students.


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