The late summer of 1862 was a dark time for the Confederacy in the West.  After victories at Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Island No. 10, Camp Wildcat, and Mill Springs, the armies of the United States controlled all of Kentucky, western and central Tennessee and parts of northern Mississippi and Alabama. Federal forces were threatening the critical rail junction at Chattanooga. In an attempt to reverse this Federal tide, and believing thousands of Kentuckians would rally to the Confederate cause, two Confederate armies invaded Kentucky in August and September of 1862.

 

The army of General Edmund Kirby Smith bypassed a Union division at Cumberland Gap and engaged a hastily assembled Union force in and around Richmond, Kentucky, on August 29 and 30. The Union force was destroyed (the 2nd Battle of Manassas was fought in Virginia on the same day). Confederates subsequently occupied Kentucky’s capital city, Frankfort, on September 2. The Confederate Army of Mississippi under General Braxton Bragg moved into Kentucky in early September and captured the Union garrison at Munfordville on September 17 (the same day as the battle of Antietam).

 

General Don Carlos Buell’s Union Army of the Ohio followed Bragg’s forces into Kentucky and, as Bragg veered east towards Bardstown, Buell marched into Louisville on September 25, reorganized his almost 80,000 soldiers into four columns, and marched out on October 1. About 20,000 men under General Joshua Sill marched straight east toward Frankfort and Lexington. The other three columns, the main force numbering just under 60,000, marched to the southeast in an attempt to trap the Confederates in the state.

 

On October 4, as the Confederate leadership and Smith’s army were in Frankfort inaugurating the exiled Confederate Governor of Kentucky, Bragg received information of a strong Union force (Sill) approaching Frankfort. Sill’s men crashed the party, and forced the Confederate government of Kentucky to flee.

 

By October 7, the Union III Corps was in contact with the rear guard of Bragg’s army just west of Perryville. The next day Buell’s main body clashed with 16,000 Confederates under Bragg at Perryville.  The five-hour battle left 7,500 casualties and ranks as the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought in Kentucky.  After Perryville, Bragg began a retreat that did not end until his army was back in Tennessee.  Kentucky remained firmly in Union hands for the rest of the war.

 

Our tour will follow the major events of the Confederate invasion of Kentucky in 1862. After a campaign overview on Wednesday evening, October 15, our tour will begin on Thursday morning with Kirby Smith’s invasion route over Big Hill and the Old State Road to Richmond, where in late August he won the most sweeping Confederate victory of the war. We will examine in-depth the Richmond battlefield, which is now a county park, and in the afternoon will address the capture of Lexington.

 

On Friday, we will head to Frankfort for a look at the only state capital to fall into Confederate hands during the war. Kentucky’s capital has a rich history, and our stops will include the Capital City Museum, Kentucky Historical Society, Fort Hill, and the Old State Capitol, which was the scene of Richard Hawes’ inauguration as Confederate governor on October 4, 1862. 

 

On Saturday, we will embark upon a very detailed tour of the Perryville battlefield, where occurred the largest and bloodiest battle fought in Kentucky. The battlefield is now a Kentucky State Historic Site, and is widely regarded as one of the best-preserved Civil War battlefields in the United States. We will examine at all aspects of this battle, from the fighting on Open Knob and Starkweather Hill to Simon B. Buckner’s attack toward the intersection now known as the High Water Mark of the Confederacy in the West.  We will also see the site of the first street fighting in the Civil War, in the streets of Perryville.  Our tour will conclude with a discussion of Bragg’s retreat out of Kentucky as we make our way back to Lexington, following part of the route to Harrodsburg.

 

The 1862 Kentucky Campaign is an overlooked part of the Civil War, and our tour will give you a new appreciation for the largest land operation ever mounted in Kentucky. Our program will be lead by Charles P. Roland, Professor Emeritus of the University of Kentucky, the dean of Civil War historians and the biographer of Albert Sidney Johnston – and Christopher L. Kolakowski, Executive Director of the Perryville National Battlefield Association. Come and join Charlie and Chris in October, as we walk the ground of these important but often overlooked Civil War sites, and cruise along on our luxury coach through the pristine hills and dales and quaint villages of the Blue Grass State!

 

ABOUT OUR TOUR LEADERS

Charles P. Roland recently retired as Professor of History at the University of Kentucky. He is the author of many books including Albert Sidney Johnston: Soldier of Three Republics; An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War; My Odyssey through History: Memoirs of War and Academe and, most recently, History Teaches Us to Hope: Reflections on the Civil War and Southern History

Christopher L. Kolakowski is Executive Director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association and previously worked with the National Park Service, New York State government, the Rensselaer County Historical Society and the Civil War Preservation Trust.  He is the author of various articles on the Civil War, American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and both World Wars. 

Program Schedule

 

Wednesday, October 15

8:00 PM-8:45 PM            Campaign Overview, Best Western Regency, Lexington, KY  

Thursday, October 16

8:15 AM                        Depart for tour of Richmond, Kentucky

5:00 PM                              Arrive Back at Best Western Regency  

 

Friday, October 17

8:15 AM                        Depart for tour of Frankfort  

5:00 PM                         Arrive back at Best Western Regency   

Saturday October 18

8:15 AM                        Depart for tour of Perryville 

5:00 PM                         Arrive back at Best Western Regency 

 

Registration Fees (Lodging not Included):   $ 495         Under Age 23:  $ 195

 

You can reserve a space on this tour by making a $50 Deposit per Person.

If You Must Cancel we will refund 100% of your fees paid. However, to receive a 100% refund, you must allow 30 days from the date of our receipt of your notice of cancellation

What is Included in your Registration Fee:

·        the services of expert historians chosen for there knowledge and experience

·        transportation to sites as indicated

·        Thursday, Friday & Saturday lunches

·        refreshments and snacks during the tour

·        map package

 

Lodging: Our program will be based at the Best Western Regency Inn, 2241 Elkhorn Road, Lexington, KY 40505 (located off I-75 at Exit 110) where we have reserved a block of rooms at the special nightly rate of $75.00 Single or Double. The Best Western offers a complimentary continental breakfast and free parking to hotel guests. To reserve a room under our block, after April 15 call 859-293-2202 and identify yourself as a registrant for the CWEA tour.

 

From Lexington Bluegrass Airport, a one-way taxi-ride to the Best Western Regency will run approximately $25-$30.