Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's autumn 1862
invasion of Kentucky had reached the outskirts of Louisville and
Cincinnati, but he was forced to retreat and regroup. On October 7, the
Federal army of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, numbering nearly 55,000,
converged on the small crossroads town of Perryville, Kentucky, in three
columns. Union forces first skirmished with Rebel cavalry on the
Springfield Pike before the fighting became more general, on Peters
Hill, as the grayclad infantry arrived. The next day, at dawn, fighting
began again around Peters Hill as a Union division advanced up the pike,
halting just before the Confederate line. The fighting then stopped for
a time. After noon, a Confederate division struck the Union left flank
and forced it to fall back. When more Confederate divisions joined the
fray, the Union line made a stubborn stand, counterattacked, but finally
fell back with some troops routed. Buell did not know of the happenings
on the field, or he would have sent forward some reserves. Even so, the
Union troops on the left flank, reinforced by two brigades, stabilized
their line, and the Rebel attack sputtered to a halt. Later, a Rebel
brigade assaulted the Union division on the Springfield Pike but was
repulsed and fell back into Perryville. The Yankees pursued, and
skirmishing occurred in the streets in the evening before dark. Union
reinforcements were threatening the Rebel left flank by now. Bragg,
short of men and supplies, withdrew during the night, and, after pausing
at Harrodsburg, continued the Confederate retrograde by way of
Cumberland Gap into East Tennessee. The Confederate offensive was over,
and the Union controlled Kentucky.