Lumsden's Battery

Captain Charles Lumsden's artillery battery rolled four cannon onto this hill to support attacking Confederate infantry and looked out on a Union line stretched across a distant ridge, where thousands of Federal soldiers stood with bayonets gleaming in the October sun. When the battery opened fire, Perryville's hilly terrain created an optical illusion that made the Union troops appear to be on the first ridge rather than two hills away, ruining the accuracy of the Confederate gunners as most of their shot and shell struck the nearer hill about 300 yards short of the Union position. Later in the day, Lumsden's battery left this hill and Captain Thomas Stanford's four guns took its place to support Donelson and Stewart's infantry as those Confederates advanced past the Widow Gibson cabin. Confederate Corporal James Searcy of Lumsden's Alabama Battery recalled going into action under enemy fire, losing a horse to a shell before getting into position, and enduring a two-hour artillery duel at perhaps half a mile's distance.

Kentucky · United States