Kentucky S Civil War Battlefields

" The Civil War scene in Kentucky, site of few full-scale battles, was one of crossroad skirmishes and guerrilla terror, of quick incursions against specific targets and equally quick withdrawals. Yet Kentucky was crucial to the military strategy of the war. For either side, a Kentucky held secure against the adversary would have meant easing of supply problems and an immeasurably stronger base of operations. The state, along with many of its institutions and many of its families, was hopelessly divided against itself. The fiercest partisans of the South tended to be doubtful about the wisdom of secession, and the staunchest Union men questioned the legality of many government measures. What this division meant militarily is made clear as Lowell H. Harrison traces the movement of troops and the outbreaks of violence. What it meant to the social and economic fabric of Kentucky and to its postwar political stance is another theme of this book. And not forgotten is the life of the ordinary citizen in the midst of such dissension and uncertainty.

A description of major battle sites, past and present. Such battles as Paducah, Perryville, and Middle Creek played a significant role in the outcome of the Civil War. Through firsthand documents, maps, and photographs, this volume provides an overview of the thirteen major conflicts that took place in the Bluegrass State. Sections detail the level of preservation of each site to provide readers with a contemporary perspective.

Top scholars contribute to this book of essays on the complex series of battles and political maneuvers for control of Kentucky during the Civil War.

This definitive account of Bragg's Kentucky Campaign places the battle squarely in the political and social context of Kentucky's Civil War. Based on new research, the book offers the most accurate depiction of what happened that fateful October day. 46 photos. 13 maps.

This unique Civil War history chronicles the hard-fought battles and divided loyalties of a pro-Southern county in Union Kentucky. When the Civil War broke out, Kentucky was officially neutral—but the people of Harrison County felt differently. Volunteers lined up at the train depot in Cynthiana to join the Confederate Army, cheered on by pro-Southern local officials. After the state fell under Union Army control, this “pestilential little nest of treason” became a battlefield during some of the most dramatic military engagements in the state. Because of its political leanings and strategic position along the Kentucky Central Railroad, Harrison County became the target of multiple raids by Confederate general John Hunt Morgan. Conflict in the area culminated in the Second Battle of Cynthiana, in which Morgan's men clashed with Union troops led by Major General Stephen G. Burbridge—known as the “Butcher of Kentucky”—resulting in the destruction of much of the town by fire. In this fascinating Civil War history, William A. Penn draws on dozens of period newspapers as well as personal journals, memoirs, and correspondence from citizens, slaves, soldiers, and witnesses to provide a vivid account of the war's impact on the region.

A Civil War First! Never has anything comparable to this massive volume been published on the Western Theatre in America's War Between the States. Bush takes the reader through every major battle in the West complete with an order of battle listing all units involved for each confrontation. Richly illustrated with nearly 700 photographs maps, charts and drawings to embellish each detailed account. You'll see extraordinary features of some of the most outstanding artifact collections in the world, all of Western Theatre battles and men who fought them.

The border states affected the course of the American Civil War in ways large and small, but none played a more important role than did Kentucky. Just as the nation was torn asunder, so too was the Bluegrass State, divided between those loyal to the Union, those with allegiances looking South, and others who simply wanted to remain neutral. Tumultuous politics gave way to the boots of marching armies that turned some of the most beautiful landscape in the country into bloody battlefields. Don W. Rightmyer s fresh narrative history Torn: The Civil War in Kentucky is the first comprehensive book-length account of politics and war in the Bluegrass State.Rightmyer, who serves as the editor of Kentucky Ancestors, the genealogical quarterly of the Kentucky Historical Society, understands and appreciates Kentucky s unique experiences better than most. After describing the state s delicate situation as a critical border state when the war broke out, the native Kentuckian delves into the tumultuous events that followed, including the violation of the state s neutrality by Confederate troops, Union occupation, and the especially critical 1862 Confederate invasion that culminated in the battle of Perryville that October. Like other border states, Kentucky also experienced brutal guerrilla warfare and complex cavalry raids for several long years.A thorough bibliography of the war in the state, a chronology of the war s major events, and a listing of the Civil War camps and forts in Kentucky supplement the study.Original in its coverage and rich in sweeping fast-paced detail, Torn: The Civil War in Kentucky offers essential reading for everyone interested in the American Civil War in general, and especially Kentucky s unique role in the greatest drama of our nation s past."

On January 19, 1862, Confederate and Union forces clashed in the now-forgotten Battle of Mill Springs. Armies of inexperienced soldiers chaotically fought in the wooded terrain of south-central Kentucky as rain turned bloodied ground to mud. Mill Springs was the first major Union victory since the Federal disaster of Bull Run. This Union triumph secured the Bluegrass State in Union hands, opening the large expanses of Tennessee for Federal invasion. From General Felix Zollicoffer meeting his death by wandering into Union lines to the heroics of General George Thomas, Civil War historian Stuart Sanders chronicles this important battle and its essential role in the war.