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Perryville
Boyle
County, KY
October 8, 1862
Campaign: Confederate Heartland
Offensive (1862)
Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, USA
Gen. Braxton Bragg, CSA
Buell's Army of the Ohio was about 37,000 against the Confederate Army of the
Mississippi with perhaps 16,000.
Union losses were a bit over 4,200 against Southern losses of around 3,200.
Confederate Gen. 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 Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, numbering
nearly 37,000, 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
gray clad 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, counterattacked, 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.
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