Battle of Perryville
Battle of Perryville - the extreme left - Starkweather's brigade , Middleton, Strobridge & Co.
| date | October 8, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place | Boyle County , Kentucky , USA |
| output | Confederate victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
|
25,000
|
16,000
|
| losses | |
|
4,276 killed
: 894 wounded: 2,911 missing / captured: 471 |
3,396 killed
: 510 wounded: 2,635 missing / captured: 251 |
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Chattanooga I - Murfreesboro I - Richmond - Munfordville - Perryville
The Battle of Perryville , also known as the Battle of the Chaplin River, was the last battle of the Confederate "Heartland" campaign during the American Civil War and took place on October 8, 1862. The battle resulted in the Confederate surrender of Kentucky, despite a victory .
Starting position
Opposite each other were the Mississippi Confederate Army under General Braxton Bragg and the Ohio Army of the Northern States under Major General Don Carlos Buell , of which only a single corps was essentially involved in the fighting.
On October 7, 1862, the 16,800-strong Mississippi Army with two wings under Major General Leonidas Polk and William J. Hardee took up position on the Chaplin River. The right wing consisted of a division under Benjamin F. Cheatham , the left from the divisions of James P. Anderson and Simon Bolivar Buckner . With both armies suffering from water shortages, Brigadier General Philip "Little Phil" Sheridan and his division searched for water and encountered Polk. Sheridan could only conquer a few pools. In the early morning hours of October 8, Sheridan attacked the Confederates again and secured control of a tributary and the surrounding area. Then the I Corps (McCook) and II Corps ( Thomas L. Crittenden ) , which had meanwhile arrived, went left and right of Charles C. Gilberts III. Corps in position.
Bragg, who thought the Union army's main thrust was targeting Frankfort , Kentucky and unaware of the presence of Crittenden's corps, gave Polk the order to attack. Polk dispatched his division to attack the Union's left flank, which was held by newly recruited men. The attack rolled up the "green" troops and drove them over a mile in front of it.
Meanwhile, Sheridan, who had been inactive under Gilbert's orders, was attacked by two Confederate brigades. The counterattack threw them back behind Perryville. Buell, two miles west of the battlefield, who had fallen from his horse and could not ride, did not hear anything of the battle due to an "acoustic shadow" until a rider informed him about it. The falling darkness did not allow the rest of the men to work.
There was no real winner after the battle. The next day, as the Union rallied to attack, the Confederates had withdrawn towards Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where they joined forces with Edmund Kirby Smith . After more minor skirmishes, Bragg decided to move to Tennessee. Buell had forced the Mississippi Army to abandon their fall offensive, but had not destroyed the Confederates.
literature
- Bernd G. Längin : The American Civil War , Bechtermünz Verlag, 1998. ISBN 3-86047-900-8 .
- James M. McPherson : Die for Freedom , List Verlag. ISBN 3-471-78178-1 .
- Kenneth W. Noe: Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle . Lexington, KY 2001.
Individual evidence
- ^ Shelby Foote : The Civil War - Fort Sumter to Perryville, p. 736.
- ↑ James McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 519.
- ↑ Fox's Regimental Losses, Chapter XIV: Union Losses
- ↑ Fox's Regimental Losses, Chapter XIV: Confederate Losses
