By early September, Southern armies were marching north taking the offensive on both the eastern and western fronts. Flush with victory after the Second Battle of Manassas, General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia invaded Maryland. Moving westward, Generals Edmund Kirby-Smith and Braxton Bragg spearheaded a Confederate invasion of Kentucky. Their goal: bring Kentucky into the Confederacy and refresh their armies with new recruits.
In August, General Kirby-Smith led Confederate forces away from Knoxville, Tennessee through south-central Kentucky to win an engagement at Richmond, Kentucky. Victorious, he moved on to capture Lexington--a city of considerable Southern sympathies. In fact, one of the Confederacy's best cavalry officers was Lexington resident John Hunt Morgan who successfully targeted the rear of the Union lines in a spectacular raid around the Union Army.
With Kirby-Smith ensconced at Lexington, Bragg positioned himself about a hundred miles northwest of the city. Meanwhile, Union General Don Carlos Buell left Tennessee in pursuit of the invaders. After much delay, Buell clashed with Bragg at Bardstown, Kentucky where Bragg hoped to join Smith's army. Outnumbered, the Southern forces withdrew.
Parched from a long campaign in drought-stricken country, on the evening of October 7 gunfire was exchanged near Perryville over control of a few small pools of water. Union troops under command of Philip Sheridan failed to gain the upper hand, but at sunrise they attacked again.
On October 8 the encounter escalated from a fight over water to a full-fledged battle for control of Kentucky. The confrontation lasted all day without victory for either side. When the morning of October 9th dawned, Union forces moved to confront the enemy again only to discover Southern troops had retreated leaving the field in the hands of the North. Although Bragg remained in the area for the next three months, the Confederacy never again mounted a sustained effort against Kentucky. After the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky remained in the Union, albeit uneasily allied with other loyal states.
Use American Memory to learn more about the Civil War:
- The Special Presentation Time Line of the Civil War provides a year-by-year overview of the events of the Civil War.
- Locate additional recollections of the war. Search the American Life Histories, 1936-1940 collection on Civil War. Narrow the selection by adding a major battle or name to the search, for example, Civil War AND Morgan.
- Search the Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865 collection to find more pictures of people and battles.
- Today in History features on Civil War topics include the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Gettysburg, and Lee's surrender to Grant. Search the Today in History Archive on Civil War to locate these features and more.
