The Aftermath of the Battle of Perryville
Community Forced to Rebuild, Care for Wounded
Doctors Ill Equiped to Deal With Injured
Death Takes Hold On Area
Effect of War Felt for Months
When the Battle of Perryville ended, more than 7,500 soldiers lay dead and wounded. The town's 300 inhabitants and the residents of other nearby communities were left to bury the dead, heal and feed the wounded, and repair their farms and homes after months of post-battle occupation.
Community Forced to Rebuild,Care for Wounded
Residents' clothes were shredded for use as bandages; food and livestock were taken; and fences and furniture were burned as firewood. In addition, nearly every home, church, and hotel served as a hospital for the wounded and sick troops. Bloodstained floors and the graffiti of recuperating soldiers etched on local walls remind modern-day inhabitants of the sacrifices of their forebears.
Shortly after the battle, Union surgeon G. G. Shumard remarked that "Perryville and Harrodsburg were already crowded with the wounded, besides these, large numbers of sick and wounded were scattered about the country in houses, barns, stables, sheds, or wherever they could obtain shelter sufficient to protect them from the weather." Although homes became crowded as soon as the battle ended, troops were carried from the battlefield for days after the fight. A Union doctor noted that for "five days after the battle, [the wounded] were being brought in from temporary places of shelter whose wounds had not yet been dressed. Every house was a hospital, all crowded, with very little to eat." Residents who had fled town to escape the battle returned to find their homes full of wounded troops and their winter stores depleted.
Doctors Ill Equiped to Deal With Injured
While touring the hospitals, surgeon J. G. Hatchitt went to the Russell House, located near the intersection of Whites Road and Hayes Mayes Road. At the Russell House, Hatchitt "found about one hundred and fifty wounded, most of them lying on the ground in the yard . . . [The surgeons] had labored all night as best they could. No supplies having reached this hospital, they were compelled to amputate without chloroform."
These surgeons were not the only doctors to lack medical supplies. The ill-prepared Federal army had few ambulances and blankets, no tents, no hospital furniture, and little food. Many surgeons had to purchase food from local farmers to provide for the wounded and sick. One doctor wrote, "it was necessary to go occasionally from six to ten miles for forage, so much had the country been stripped by the armies, and sometimes it was necessary to seize both wood and forage at the point of the bayonet."
A lack of water also hindered the surgeons' efforts. As a severe drought had struck central Kentucky for months prior to the battle, nearly every stream and spring was completely dry. There was no water to relieve the suffering of the thirsty troops. Further, the lack of water caused sanitation problems. According to one Union doctor, "Some surgeons told me that they could not get water enough to wash the blood from their hands for two days."
Although the Union army requested medical stores from Louisville, a quartermaster in Bardstown held the items for two weeks before forwarding them to Perryville. Luckily for the wounded, the U. S. Sanitary Commission (a group like the Red Cross) sent medicine, bandages, butter, bedding, and live chickens to Perryville when they learned of the shortage.
Local churches also became filled with the wounded. War correspondent Alf Burnett entered the Methodist Church and found that every pew served as a bed for the suffering soldiers. As the need for surgical assistants was great, the reporter assisted in amputating the leg of one soldier. Moments later he helped mend a man who "had his entire right cheek cut off by a piece of a shell, lacerating his tongue in the most horrible manner." The pews from the Methodist and Presbyterian churches were eventually smashed and used as firewood. Antioch Church, located north of the battlefield in Mercer County, was also commandeered. One wounded Union soldier recalled that, "the church was perfectly filled [with the wounded], and under every shade tree nigh at hand" lay mangled soldiers. He added, "I lay for six days out under a white oak tree, with my wound dressed once."
Perryville was not the only community to have injured troops deposited on its doorstep. In Mackville, a sixteen-room tavern was crammed with more than 150 wounded. Only twenty-five cots were available for these troops. In Danville, 1,500 casualties filled the courthouse, churches, schools, and private dwellings. This number eventually swelled to 2,500 because of disease. Men suffering from typhoid fever, pneumonia, measles, and dysentery recovered or died in all of the local communities. As the Confederate army moved through Harrodsburg when they withdrew from Perryville, hundreds of ill troops filled churches and residences there. One doctor said, "Of medicines, there were almost none at Harrodsburg."
A member of the 125th Illinois Infantry recalled visiting one of the Perryville hospitals. He wrote, "stretched upon the bare floor in rows lay the Rebel wounded and among the numbers several whose lives had just gone out. Men here were suffering all kinds of wounds. Groans and shrieks rent the air. One poor wretch who sat with his back against the wall had his tongue shot off by a minie ball and was slowly dying of strangulation. The sight was too much for us and sick at heart we hastily left the house. The yard was also filled with wounded men . . . "
Despite the horrible conditions found in the field hospitals, some survived. One Confederate received seven wounds at Perryville and lived until 1903. A Union lieutenant was wounded five times and survived, but one of his wounds resulted in the loss of an eye.
Local citizens sacrificed a great deal during the months of post-battle occupation. One doctor visited a hospital where the residents "were very poor, but doing all in their power for those [wounded] in their charge. The mother of the family promised to continue to do so, but said, with tears in her eyes, she feared that she and her children must starve when the winter came."
John Russell, who owned the Russell House, reported that his property was occupied as a hospital for seventeen days. Not only was his home crowded with the wounded, but all of his wood, corn, wheat, and hay were consumed. His four horses were also taken. Although Russell tried to receive payment for these lost items, he was never reimbursed. Like Russell, many local families and churches never received payment for the occupation or missing goods.
Local inhabitants had to bury the Confederate dead who were left lying on the field. Although the Union army had buried their own, dead Southerners lay in the pastures for days after the battle. According to Burnett, the Confederates were not buried until a Federal officer ordered Southern sympathizers to bury them.
Since the dead were buried in shallow graves, many of the bodies were rooted up by hogs and picked by buzzards. When it rained, the limbs of the dead protruded from the loose soil. One Federal soldier who rode near the battlefield several weeks after the fight remarked that the stench of death still lingered in the air.
These terrible conditions lasted in Perryville for months after the battle. There were post-battle deaths every day until December 24, 1862. No one died on Christmas Eve, but the deaths continued the next day. Although Perryville hospitals closed on March 23, 1863, the last recorded death directly related to the battle was on June 30, 1863, more than eight months after the fight.
-Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association
