J. T. Wilder, with about 2,100 men, had assumed command five days before, by order of Gen. J. T. Boyle, commanding in Kentucky, and had hastily thrown up fortifications, with intent to dispute the passage of the river. Chalmers had already sent a mounted force to the north of Munfordsville, by which a first demand for surrender was made at 8 P. M. The demand being repelled, an assault was made at daylight next morning, but speedily repulsed with loss. At 9 A. M., Wilder was rëenforced by six companies of the 50th Indiana, Col. C. L. Dunham, who, being his senior, after hesitating, assumed command; but was superseded soon afterward by an order from Boyle, and Wilder restored. The Rebels, after their first repulse, kept mainly out of sight, knowing that their ultimate success was inevitable, and allowed two more regiments and six guns to make their way into the town; assured that all who were there would soon fall into their hands. At length, at 9 a. M. on Tuesday,1 Bragg, having brought up his main body and surrounded the place with not less than 25,000 men, renewed the attack. Advancing cautiously, keeping his men well covered, but crowding up on the weak and exposed points of our defenses in such numbers as absolutely to compel the gradual contraction of our lines, he, about sunset, sent in a flag of truce, demanding a surrender. As Buell was not at hand, nor likely to be, and as there was no hope of relief from any quarter, and no adequate reason for sacrificing the lives of his men, Wilder, at 2 A. M. next day," after the fullest consultation Sept. 16. 16 with his officers, surrendered; being allowed to march out with drums beating and colors flying, take four days' rations, and set forth immediately, under parole, for Louisville. He says in his report that his entire loss was 37 killed and wounded, "while the enemy admit a loss of 714 on Sunday alone." Bragg, on the contrary, says, "Our [Rebel] loss was about 50 killed and wounded;" and claims 4,000 prisoners and as many muskets, beside guns and munitions. Bragg now issued the following address to the people of Kentucky, which, read backward, will indicate the objects and motives of his invasion: "GLASGOW, KY., Sept. 18, 1862. "" KENTUCKIANS: I have entered your State with the Confederate Army of the West, and offer you an opportunity to free yourselves from the tyranny of a despotic ruler. spoilers, but to restore to you the liberties We come, not as conquerors or deof which you have been deprived by a cruel We come to guarantee and relentless foe. to all the sanctity of their homes and altars; to punish with a rod of iron the despoilers of your peace, and to avenge the cowardly batants, the past shall be forgotten. Needinsults to your women. With all non-comful supplies must be had for my army; but they shall be paid for at fair and remunerating prices. "Believing that the heart of Kentucky is with us in our great struggle for Constitutional Freedom, we have transferred from our own soil to yours, not a band of marauders, but a powerful and well-disciplined army. Your gallant Buckner leads the van. Marshall is on the right; while Breckin ridge, dear to us as to you, is advancing with Kentucky's valiant sons, to receive the honor and applause due to their hero ism. are The strong hands which in part have sent Shiloh down to history, and the nerved arms which have kept at bay from our own homes the boastful army of the enemy, here to assist, to sustain, to liberate you. Will you remain indifferent to our call? or will you not rather vindicate the fair fame of your once free and envied State? We believe that you will; and that the memory BUELL ADVANCES AGAINST BRAGG. 217 of your gallant dead who fell at Shiloh, | ly installed Governor had to flee their faces turned homeward, will rouse from their approach." you to a manly effort for yourselves and posterity. Gen. Buell, after leaving Nash"Kentuckians! we have come with joy-ville" strongly garrisoned, had ous hopes. Let us not depart in sorrow, as marched directly for Louisville, 170 we shall if we find you wedded in your choice to your present lot. If you prefer Federal rule, show it by your frowns, and we shall return whence we came. If you choose rather to come within the folds of our brotherhood, then cheer us with the smiles of your women, and lend ing hands to secure you in your heritage of liberty. your will "Women of Kentucky! your persecutions and heroic bearing have reached our ear. Banish henceforth, forever, from your minds the fear of loathsome prisons or insulting visitations. Let your enthusiasm have free rein. Buckle on the armor of your kindred, your husbands, sons, and brothers, and scoff with shame him who would prove recreant in his duty to you, his country, and his God. "BRAXTON BRAGG, "Gen. Commanding." It was not the fault of the General commanding that his army must necessarily have subsisted on the region of Kentucky it traversed; but, when it is considered that he swept off in his retreat all the abundant horses and cattle that came within his reach, with whatever else he could carry, and that he did not and could not pay for any thing, it seems that the mockery of his promise of payment might wisely have been forborne. miles; where his army arrived between the 25th and 29th. It had by this time been swelled by rëenforcements, mainly raw, to nearly 100,000 men; but it was not, in his judgment, yet in condition to fight Bragg's far inferior numbers. Hence, time was taken to reorganize and supply it; while the Rebel cavalry galloped at will over the plenteous central districts of the State, collecting large quantities of cattle and hogs not only, but of serviceable fabrics and other manufactures as well. Buell's י delays, synchronizing with McClellan's last, were so distasteful at Washington, that an order relieving him from command was issued; but its execution was suspended on the emphatic remonstrance of his subordinate commanders. The hint being a pretty strong one, Buell set his face toward the enemy;" moving in five columns: his left on Frankfort, his right on Shepardsville, intending to concentrate on Bardstown, where Bragg, with his main body, was supposed to be; skirmishing by the way with small parties of Rebel cavalry and artillery. Thus advancing steadily, though not rapidly, he passed through Bardstown, and thence to Springfield," 62 miles from Louisville; Bragg slowly retreating before him, harassing rather than resisting his advance, so as to gain time for the escape of his now immense trains, consisting mainly of captured Federal army wagons, heavily laden with the spoils of Kentucky. Here Buell 22 Oct. 1. 23 Oct. 6. 20 Oct. 4. 21 Sept. 15. learned that Kirby Smith had crossed the Kentucky, and that Bragg was moving to concentrate his forces either at Harrodsburg or PERRYVILLE. His own movement was therefore directed toward Perryville; three miles in front of which, moving with his 3d or central corps, he encountered, on the afternoon of the 7th, a considerable Rebel force, drawn up in order of battle; but which his advance pressed back a mile or so without much fighting; when he, expecting a battle, sent orders to McCook and Crittenden, commanding his flank corps, to advance on his right and left at 3 next morning. McCook did not receive the order till 2 A. M., and he marched at 5; but Crittenden, unable to find water for his corps at the place where Buell had expected it to encamp for the night, had moved off the road in quest of it, and was six miles farther away than he otherwise would have been; so that the order to advance was not duly received, and his arrival at Perryville was delayed several hours. A great drouth then prevailing in Kentucky, causing severe privation and suffering to men and animals, the fight commenced early next morning, by an attempt of the enemy to repel the brigade of Col. D. McCook, which had been pushed forward by Buell on his immediate front to cover some hollows in the bed of Doctor's creek, whence a little bad water was obtained. This attempt was defeated by sending up the divisions of Gens. Mitchell and Sheridan, to hold the ground until our two flank corps should arrive; which the left, Gen. A. D. McCook, did between 10 and 11 A. M.; and the batteries of his advance division were sharply engaged with the enemy not long afterward. Bragg was present in person; but his forces were commanded more immediately by Maj.-Gen. Bishop Polk, who had in hand five divisions-two under Hardee, and those of Patton Anderson, Cheatham, and Buckner that of Withers having been sent by Bragg, the day before, to support Smith, who was retreating farther to the east, and was deemed in danger of being enveloped and cut off. Bragg gives no other reason for fighting before concentrating his entire command than that the enemy were pressing heavily on his rear; but it is clear that he had deliberately resolved to turn and fight at Perryville. Maj.-Gen. McCook, having reached the position assigned him with but two of his three divisions-that of Gen. Sill having been detached and sent to Frankfort-had directed the posting of his troops and formation of his line of battle-Gen. Rousseau's division on the right, in line with the left of Gilbert's corps, and Gen. Jackson's on the left, near the little hamlet of Maxwell, on the Harrodsburg road-rode off and reported in person to Gen. Buell, 2 miles distant, in the rear of his right; and received verbal orders to make a reconnoissance in front of his position to Chaplin creek. Returning to his command, and finding nothing in progress but mutual artillery practice, to little purpose, he ordered his batteries to save their ammunition, while he made the directed reconnoissance; at the same time advancing his skirmishers and extending his ! BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE-GEN. JACKSON KILLED. 219 left, in order to obtain a more advan- | rapidly charging masses of infantry and artillery, hitherto concealed in woods and hollows, but which seemed as if magically evoked from the earth. Cheatham's division, which had been silently moved from the Rebel left to their right, led this assault, responding with terrific yells and more hurried step to the fire of our batteries, until within short musketrange, when, at their very first volley, Maj.-Gen. James S. Jackson** fell dead. His fall disorganized the raw and over-matched brigade of Gen. Terrill, which he was desperately exerting himself to steady, and it gave way in utter panic; Gen. Terrill himself following his chief's example and sharing his fate not long afterward; as did, at a later hour, Col. George Webster, 98th Ohio, commanding a brigade. Terrill's brigade being thus instantaneously routed, with the loss of Parsons's battery, the whole force of the Rebel charge fell upon Rousseau, who was ready to receive it. An attempt to flank and crush his left was promptly met by new dispositions: Starkweather's brigade, with Stone's and Bush's batteries, being faced to that flank, and receiving the enemy with volley after volley, which tore his ranks and arrested his momentum for two or three hours, until our ammunition was exhausted, and Bush's. battery had lost 35 horses; when our guns were drawn back a short distance, and our infantry retired to replenish their cartridge-boxes; then resuming their position in line. He was grievously mistaken. Hardly had he been half an hour away from his front, when his left, composed mainly of green soldiers, under a brave but inexperienced commander, and not fully formed in order of battle, was suddenly and vehemently assailed in front and flank by 24 Union Member of Congress from the IId district of Kentucky; elected in 1861, Rousseau's center and right were held respectively by the brigades of by 9,281 votes, to 3,364 for Bunch, "State Rights," i. e., semi-Rebel. Harris and Lytle, who fought bravely, | Wood, and here fought desperately but lost ground, in consequence of for two hours against superior numthe disaster on our farther left. Fi- bers. A lull occurring in the fusilnally, a desperate charge was made upon Lytle's front and right, favored irregularities of ground, which covered and concealed it, and his brigade was hurled back; Lytle himself falling at this moment, and, believing his wound mortal, refusing to be carried off the field. The charging Rebels now struck the left flank of Gilbert's corps, held by R. B. Mitchell and Sheridan, which had been for some little time engaged along its front. The key of its position was held-and of course well held by Brig. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, who had been engaged in the morning, but had driven the enemy back out of sight, after a short but sharp contest, and had just repelled another assault on his front; advancing his line as his assailants retired, and then turning his guns upon the force which had just driven Rousseau's right. And now Gen. Mitchell pushed forward the 31st brigade, Col. Carlin, on Sheridan's right, and charged at double-quick, breaking and driving the enemy into and through Perryville, to the protection of two batteries on the bluffs beyond, capturing 15 heavily laden ammunition wagons, 2 caissons with their horses, and a train-guard of 140; retiring amid the Rebel confusion to this side of the town, and thence opening fire with his battery as dark ness came on. Meantime, the 30th brigade, Col. Gooding, which had been sent by Gilbert to the aid of McCook, had formed on our extreme left, confronting the division of the Rebel Gen. lade, Gooding rode forward, about dark, to ascertain the Rebel position; when his horse was shot under him and he made prisoner. His brigade then fell back, having lost 549 men out of 1,423; taking position in line with McCook. There was some random artillery firing afterward; but darkness substantially closed the battle. Gen. Buell did not learn until 4 P. M. that any serious conflict was in progress. He now heard with astonishment from McCook that he had been two hours hotly engaged; that both the right and the left of his corps were turned, or being turned; and that he was severely pressed on every hand. Reenforcements were immediately ordered to McCook from the center, and orders sent to Crittenden-who was advancing with our right division-to push forward and attack the enemy's left; but Crittenden's advance only reached the field at nightfall, when a single brigade (Wagner's) went into action on the right of Mitchell's division, just before the battle was terminated by darkness. At 6 A. M. next day," Gilbert's corps advanced by order to assail the Rebel front, while Crittenden struck hard on his left flank; but they found no enemy to dispute their progress. Bragg had decamped during the night, marching on Harrodsburg; where he was joined by Kirby Smith and Withers; retreating thence southward by Bryantsville to Camp Dick Robinson, near Danville. 25 Oct. 9. Bragg admits a total loss in this |