The Bloody Battle - Perryville

In 1862, Union and Confederate forces met just outside Perryville when both were looking for water, after Union bombs interrupted an attempted inauguration of the Confederate governor at Frankfort, forcing them to flee the city a few days earlier. They raged all day in the bloodiest Civil War battle to take place in Kentucky (3638 soldiers dead, 1189 of which are unknown) - ultimately a turning point for the state. The Confederates retreated through the Cumberland Gap, and did not return, with the exception of raiders and guerrillas.

Forty years later, Kentuckians erected a monument outside Danville to commemorate those Confederate soldiers killed at the Battle of Perryville.

Page 5, Paducah Sun, 9 October 1902