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Battle of Perryville.
General Buell, learning the position of our forces near
Perryville, determined on attacking us there.
Bragg wisely prepared to receive and give him battle, and, in fact, ascertaining that
Crittenden's corps was nearly a day's march in the rear of
Buell, he sent
Withers's division of
Polk's corps to intercept him, whilst he, with the remainder of the army, attacked the two Federal corps under
McCook and
Gilbert, both under the immediate command of
Buell, then rapidly, and, as they thought, securely, approaching
Perryville, hoping to crush them in detail, and thereby remain for a time at least master of the situation in the dark and bloody ground.
But by one of those mishaps that will sometimes crop out when least looked for or expected, our (
Withers's) division, which, as said above, was sent to intercept
Crittenden's corps, came up, at the intersection of two roads, with the advance guard of
General E. Kirby Smith's army hastening to
General Bragg's support, and they being all dressed in new Federal suits, the spoils at
Richmond, where
Bull Nelson had the discretion, under the cloak of big-hearted generosity, to supply the much needed
requisitions of the haughty Confederate (this was about twelve miles north of
Harrodsburg, near the
Louisville turnpike),
Major W. C. Richards's (who had just before at Mumfordsville been severely wounded) sharpshooters of
Chalmers's brigade, under command of
Captain West, and those of our new, and, as it resulted, friendly acquaintances, mutually mistaking each other for the enemy, commenced skirmishing and continued for some time, and until
Smith's men, discovering the mistake, sent forward a flag of truce and removed the apprehension, but not until it was too late for the accomplishment of the errand upon which we had been sent.
The game had flown;
Crittenden, with only his rear guard slightly harrassed, passed on and in time united with
Buell's forces, then being driven back from
Perryville, and turned the tide of battle against us, which, till his arrival, had rolled so proudly at our bidding, and in connection with the signal defeat of
Van Dorn at
Corinth on the second (4th October) day of that engagement, necessitating
Bragg's retreat out of
Kentucky by
Cumberland Gap.
Van Dorn's army, had it been successful at
Corinth, was to have cooperated with us in
Tennessee and
Kentucky, insuring success to our arms in the latter State.
But few know the fact, or knowing it have suppressed its utterance, that
General Bragg's original plan
