Following a Confederate Soldier Through the Civil War: Battle #4 The Battle of Perryville

William Porter Dickson enlisted in September of 1861 to fight as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. In the supplement to his 1911 Civil War Questionnaire he listed eight battles in which his company, Company D of the 12th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, took place. I am going to learn more about his company’s role in the Civil War by researching these eight battles.

from William Porter Dickson’s 1911 Questionnaire

The fourth battle on his list is The Battle of Perryville in Kentucky. Along with battle #3 in Richmond, Kentucky, this was a part of the Kentucky Invasion.

Kentucky, as a border state, had an unusual role in the Civil War. Kentuckians owned slaves, but they also wanted to preserve the Union. In 1861, they declared themselves a neutral state. But, both Union and Confederate armies were raised there. The capital in Frankfurt then declared itself loyal to the Union, but others in the town of Russell voted to secede.

I’ve already discussed one of the battles that took place during the Kentucky Invasion: the Confederate win at the Battle of Richmond. But, the next battle William fought in was at Perryville, the bloodiest and largest battle fought in Kentucky.

Led by General Braxton Bragg, about 16,000 Confederates met approximately 20,000 Union soldiers. Partly because many of the Union troops had never fought before, the Confederates had a tactical victory at Perryville. However, the Confederates had thousands of casualties: 532 killed, 2,651 wounded, & 228 missing or captured. With this huge loss, General Bragg retreated to Tennessee and the Union would control Kentucky for the rest of the war.