American Civil WarStuff Happened · War
Battle · Western Theatre
Battle of Perryville
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The Kentucky gamble
Bragg’s Bid for a Slave State
Bragg (South) marches north to flip a loyal slave state, hauling 20,000 spare rifles for recruits who never come.
2Doctor’s Creek, Oct 6–8
A Battle That Began at the Creek
In a drought, men shoot each other over the right to drink; Buell (North) feints toward Frankfort and tricks Bragg into looking the wrong way.
3Afternoon, October 8
The Battle Buell Never Heard
A trick of the air muffles the roar two miles off; Buell (North) sleeps through it while one corps is torn apart on Open Knob.
4Dusk & the night march
Winning the Field, Losing the State
Bragg (South) holds the ground at dark, then reads the trap closing, abandons 900 wounded, and gives up Kentucky.
5The cost & the meaning
The Bloodiest Afternoon for the Smallest Fight
~7,600 fall in one afternoon, one in five engaged. The slave state Bragg came to claim stays in the Union for good.