The Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, 1862 (Harper's Weekly)

In late 1862 the 5th Confederate Infantry were commanded by Colonel James A. Smith, and formed part of Brigadier-General Bushrod Johnson’s brigade. They entered the fight on the left flank of the brigade line, moving to cross the almost dry bed of Doctor’s Creek and engage the Federals to the west. The advance quickly descended into confusion with units becoming separated before they had even crossed the watercourse. Indeed the first fire the 5th Confederate endured was from a Rebel battery which mistook them for Union troops. Eventually resolving this ‘friendly fire’ incident and getting back on track, the Memphis Irishmen moved across the Creek bed and up the hill on the far side towards the blue-clad lines. Sweeping towards the Squire Bottom Farm, the 5th Confederate were finally about to get the grips with the enemy- including some of their countrymen in the 10th Ohio (1)

The Union brigade that faced the Rebel Irishmen was under the command of Colonel William H. Lytle. Lytle had started the war as Colonel of the 10th Ohio, but for today the regiment was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Burke. He and his men had already been in action for some time, acting as skirmishers and also facing a Confederate threat to their left. Burke watched from high ground as the fresh Rebel attack swept over the Creek and past the Bottom House to his right. He was in a position to enfilade the enemy line, and promptly ordered his men to open fire into the advancing Rebels. Their bullets raked through the soldiers of Bushrod Johnson’s brigade, including many of their countrymen in the 5th Confederate. (2)

Captain C.W. Frazer of the 5th had more worries than just the 10th Ohio. Directly to their front he and his men were encountering the plunging fire of Union troops ensconced behind a stone wall. Frazer remembered that they advanced with ‘a stone fence on the right and a rail fence on the left…when from the stone fence, thirty steps away, a volley…fired into us without note or warning. The shock was terrific- the line swayed as one body, leaving a track of dead and wounded to mark its former position; then with a yell that burst simultaneously from officers and men, [we]charged over dead and dying, drove the enemy from the fence, and held it.’ (3)

The fight now degenerated into an exchange of volleys at close range, as the death toll rose. The killing that engulfed the stone wall and fences of the farm soon took a gruesome twist. Squire Bottom’s Barn stood on the Federal side of the front-line, and was being used by some of the Union wounded for shelter. As the attack reached its crescendo, a Confederate shell arced through the air and exploded in the barn. Filled with tinder-dry materials, the building- and those inside it- were engulfed in flame. Frazer remembered that ‘amid the clash of arms we heard the shrieks of the wounded as they burned…the fight went on.’ (4)

The Squire Bottom House, Perryville. The 5th Confederate and 10th Ohio were engaged near here (Photo: Hal Jespersen)

The high ground held by the 10th Ohio and their comrades in Lytle’s brigade began to tell, and the Confederate attack stalled. The 5th Confederate were nearing the point of collapse when they looked around and saw what appeared to be a Union line advancing on their rear. Colonel Smith turned to Frazer, saying ‘Captain, have you a white handkerchief? I am afraid we will need one.’ Frazer replied that there ‘was not one in the regiment; and you have on the only ‘biled shirt,’ the lower end of which will answer if occasion requires.’ However the men coming up behind them were not Federals, a fact soon made clear when they raised the Rebel yell. These Confederates wore blue as they were decked out in elements of Union uniforms captured earlier in the campaign at the Battle of Richmond. They signalled the arrival of yet another Irishman on the field; the advance was that of Corkman Brigadier-General Patrick Cleburne’s brigade. (5)

Although the arrival of Cleburne meant that the 5th Confederate were almost finished their days fight, the men in the 10th Ohio still had much to endure. As the Union line began to be forced back, they found themselves exposed and almost cut off, with the enemy closing in on both flanks. Charging forward to relive the pressure on their line, they suffered mounting casualties as the situation became desperate and the regiment neared collapse. Knowing that they had to retreat in an orderly fashion to avoid disastrous casualties, Lieutenant-Colonel Burke grabbed a bugle and sounded the halt himself. He formed and dressed the lines, calmly ordered skirmishers to the flanks to cover the retreat, and extracted his command. (6)

The battle would rage until darkness, with the Union I Corps eventually being pushed back more than a mile. Confederate commander Braxton Bragg had not been aware that he faced the entire Army of the Ohio at Perryville, thinking he was just engaging just a portion of his foe’s superior strength. His Federal counterpart Don Carlos Buell remained equally ignorant of events; he was unaware that a battle was even being fought, preventing the other two Union Corps from fully participating in the engagement. Nightfall brought a realisation on Bragg’s part of his precarious position, and he ordered a retreat from the field that ultimately ended in the abandonment of Kentucky by the Confederates. There were many men who would not be part of the Confederate retreat or the Federal pursuit; during the days fighting the 250 men of the 5th Confederate Infantry lost 6 killed, 34 wounded and 5 missing (18.8% of their force) while the 528 soldiers of the 10th Ohio Infantry withstood the staggering losses of 60 killed, 169 wounded and 8 missing (44.9% of their strength). (7)

The 10th Ohio would go on to become the army’s Provost Guard, a role they would perform at the Battle of Stones River. The 5th Confederate became part of Cleburne’s soon to be famous division, fighting all the way to Bentonville, North Carolina in 1865. The Civil War Trust are currently campaigning to save 141 acres of the ground at the Squire Bottom Farm in Perryville, where the lives of many men from both of these regiments were changed forever. They have reached 94% of their target and are closing in on their goal- if would like to contribute towards their efforts click here.

(1) Noe 2001: 220, Frazer 1886: 148; (2) Noe 2001: 226-7; (3) Frazer 1886: 147-8; (4) Noe 2001: 228, Frazer 1886: 148; (5) Frazer 1886: 148; (6) Reid 1868: 79; (7) Noe 2001: 372, 374;

References & Further Reading

Frazer, C.W. 1886. ‘Fifth Confederate’ in Lindsley, John Berrien (ed.) The Military Annals of Tennessee

Noe, Kenneth W. 2001. Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle

Reid, Whitelaw 1868. Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers, Volume II

Perryville Civil War Battlefield

Civil War Trust Battle of Perryville Page

The Tenth crossed the Ohio River on the 24th June 1861 to take part in the Campaign. On the 10th September they found themselves part of Brigadier-General William Starke Rosecrans command as they prepared to attack John B. Floyd’s Confederate’s at Carnifex Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). It was not to be an easy introduction to battle. The ‘Bloody Tenth’, as they were to become known were commanded by Mexican War veteran Colonel William Haines-Lytle, while their Major was Joseph W.Burke, an Irish immigrant who had helped to recruit the regiment.

At around 3 o’clock on the 10th September Colonel Lytle received orders to reconnoiter the enemy positions, suspected of being in the vicinity of the Gauley River. One can imagine the nervous anticipation of the men as they advanced uphill through a densely timbered forest, expecting at every step to come under fire for the first time. Having passed through the woods for half a mile the regiment’s skirmisher’s were suddenly engaged, with Lytle advancing the remainder of the men to their support. They reached clear ground on the crest of the hill, and for the first time saw the enemy- the rebel’s were in a strong fortified position behind logs and fenceposts, with twelve guns trained on the Tenth. Colonel Lytle takes up the narrative:

When the head of my column reached  a point opposite the right center of their earthworks their entire battery opened on us with grape and canister with almost paralyzing effect, my men falling around me in great numbers. I ordered the colors to the front for the purpose of making an assault on their battery, perceiving which, the entire fire of the enemy was directed towards us. The men rallied gallantly on the hill-side under withering volleys of grape and canister with small-arms, and a part of three companies, A, E, and D, actually moved up within pistol-shot of the intrenchments, and for some time maintained a most unequal contest. Both my color-bearers were struck down. The bearer of the State color, Sergeant Fitzgibbons, had the staff shot away and his hand shattered, and in a few moments afterwards was shattered in both thighs while waving his colors on the broken staff. The bearer of the national color, Sergeant O’Connor, at the same time was struck down by some missile, but recovered himself in a short time, and kept waving his color in front of the enemy’s lines.

Colonel Lytle, who had advanced with the right-wing of the regiment and had remained mounted despite the tremendous fire, was also wounded when a bullet hit his leg, killing his horse. Meanwhile, Major Burke attacked on the left with Companies I, F, K and C, where they remained in position until they had expended all their ammunition before rejoining the right. Colonel Lytle commanded his men to take cover, which they did, maintaining a steady fire on the enemy positions.  Much of  the regiment remained where they lay throughout the night. The following day, Brigadier-General Floyd’s Confederate’s had withdrawn, and the Tenth Ohio had ‘seen the elephant’. Of their performance, Colonel Lytle remarked:

For men for the first time under fire the conduct of the regiment was highly creditable. Having been disabled in the early part of the action I was necessarily separated from a greater portion of the command, but among those who came under my own notice I would especially mention Captain  S. J. McGroarty, commanding the color company; Lieutenant  Jno S. Mulroy, Company D; Lieutenant Fanning, Company A. Both Lieutenant Fanning and Captain McGroarty were severely wounded, the latter while rallying his men around his colors and the former in leading his men to the attack. Captains Steele and Tiernon are also worthy of special mention for their gallantry. I would also mention the name of Corporal Sullivan, Company E, who in the midst of a galling fire went across the front of the enemy’s batteries and returned with water for the wounded.

Of the portion of the regiment under Major Burke that officer makes highly honorable mention of the names of Captain Ward, Company I; Captain Robinson, Company K; Captain Hudson and Lieutenant Hickey, Company C; Captain Moore, Company D; Sergeant-Major Knox, for their gallantry and intrepidity under a most destructive fire, and also of the chaplain, Rev. W. T. O’Higgins, who remained on the field during the action in performance of his sacred duties.

The gallant performance of the Tenth Ohio came at high cost; they suffered the worst casualties of the day, losing ten men killed and fifty wounded. Their experience of war was only beginning- they would later fight on famous battlefields such as those at Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Atlanta, before their service was completed in 1864.

References & Further Reading

10th Ohio Flag

Carnifex Ferry Battlefield State Park

Official Records 5. Report of Colonel William H. Lytle, Tenth Ohio Infantry

Carter, Ruth C. (ed) 1999. For Honor, Glory & Union: The Mexican & Civil War Letters of Brig. Gen. William Haines Lytle

Reid, Whitelaw 1868. Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers Volume II