Sgt. Harris B. Cope Memorial

Sergeant Harris B. Cope of Company G, 16th Tennessee Infantry, fell in the fields ahead on October 8, 1862. That day, Brigadier General Daniel S. Donelson’s brigade, part of Major General Benjamin F. Cheatham’s First Division in Major General Leonidas Polk’s Right Wing of General Braxton Bragg’s Army of the Mississippi, moved from its bivouac in and around the Perryville Cemetery toward Harrodsburg to take position on the Confederate right. Composed of the 8th, 15th, 16th, 38th, and 51st Tennessee Infantry regiments and Captain William Carnes’ Tennessee Light Artillery Battery, the brigade left the turnpike near the Crawford House, followed the dry Chaplin River, and reached a staging area near the Goodknight House. There, Carnes’ Battery and the 8th and 51st Tennessee Infantry were detached for an artillery bombardment and later to assist Brigadier General George Maney’s brigade, leaving the 15th, 16th, and 38th Tennessee Infantry to lead the main attack over the fields ahead despite Donelson’s appeals for the detached units’ return. A few minutes after 2:00 P.M., the attack began against what was believed to be the Union left flank, but the advancing regiments, led by the 16th Tennessee, encountered devastating crossfire from Parsons’ improvised United States Battery on high ground ahead and to the right and Harris’ 19th Indiana Battery on high ground to the left and front. The 16th Tennessee lost half its men within minutes, yet the three regiments pressed on with shouts of victory, struck the 33rd Ohio Infantry and then the 2nd Ohio Infantry, inflicted heavy losses, and captured the lieutenant colonel of the 33rd. Their assault bought enough time for two other Cheatham brigades to adjust their lines and effectively attack Union positions. The 15th, 16th, and 38th Tennessee advanced until artillery fire and superior numbers stopped them, and after their ammunition was exhausted, the survivors were relieved by Brigadier General A. P. Stewart’s brigade. Later that afternoon, the 8th and 51st Tennessee returned and joined the 15th, 16th, and 38th Tennessee in another attack in the same fields before darkness ended the fighting. The casualties were 33 in the 8th Tennessee Infantry, 34 in the 15th Tennessee Infantry, 199 in the 16th Tennessee Infantry, 43 in the 38th Tennessee Infantry, 34 in the 51st Tennessee Infantry, and 5 in Carnes’ Tennessee Battery.

Kentucky · United States