Confederate Cemetery, Perryville, Kentucky - Kentucky Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Confederate Cemetery
Perryville
— The Battle for Kentucky October 8, 1862 —

When the Battle of Perryville ended, hundreds of dead soldiers were left on the battlefield. The Confederates, who attacked the Union battle lines, lost 532 killed, 2,652 wounded, and 236 missing (3,420 total). Federal losses were just as staggering. The Union army suffered 899 killed, 2,966 wounded, and 433 missing (4,298 total). When adding the number of killed to the wounded who died later, 2422 men (1497 Union + 925 Confederate) died as a result of the battle of Perryville. While there is no way to find exact numbers because of inaccurate casualty reports, these figures represent the most recent estimates.

Although the Confederate army won a tactical victory, they were outnumbered and left Perryville that night. In their haste, they left all of their dead and most of their wounded lying on the battlefield.

While the Union army buried their own dead in regimental plots, the Confederates remained unburied. Within days, hogs were rooting up the bodies and hundreds of buzzards and crows scoured the battlefield.

Henry P. Bottom, a farmer who owned most of the land upon which the battle was fought, organized a civilian burial detail for his property. Bottom, his slaves, and a number of his neighbors buried most of the Southern bodies in two large pits. Bottom recorded as many names as he could, but most of the soldiers buried here remain unknown to this day. It is likely that around 200 hundred soldiers are buried in this mass grave.

The Union dead were later removed to Camp Nelson National Cemetery in Jessamine County, Kentucky. Despite the soldiers’ and citizens’ efforts to mark the burial sites, scores of unmarked graves still exist on and around the battlefield.

In 1902, the Commonwealth of Kentucky erected this monument at the Confederate cemetery, which began efforts to preserve this historic site.

In this 1885 photograph, Herry P. Bottom, who organized the burial of Confederate soldiers in this cemetery, sits atop the original Cemetery wall.

All around us was evidence of the death struggle the day before. Bodies of men and horses lay scattered about. In the fields and by the roadside every house and barn was filled with the maimed and dying and the dead… Many of them were in the most horrible condition that the mind can conceive. Some were shot through the head, body or limbs. Other mangled by fragments of shell and all suffering the greatest torments.
Anonymous Union soldier

Dedicated to: Capt. N.M. Bearden, 8th Tennessee Infantry Reg'r C.S.A.

Marker Name: Perryville Confederate Cemetery Marker Location: Roadside Type of Marker: Battle (war) Marker Number (for official markers): none Group(s) Responsible for placing Marker: none

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