Confederate Cemetery

After the Battle of Perryville ended, hundreds of dead soldiers remained on the battlefield. The Confederates, who had attacked the Union lines, lost 532 killed, 2,641 wounded, and 228 missing, while the Union army suffered 890 killed, 2,893 wounded, and 437 missing, though exact totals cannot be known because casualty reports were inaccurate. Although the Confederates won a tactical victory, they were outnumbered and left Perryville that night, leaving all of their dead and most of their wounded behind. The Union buried their own dead in regimental plots, but Confederate bodies remained unburied until Henry P. Bottom, who owned most of the battlefield land, organized a civilian burial detail on his property. Bottom, his slaves, and several neighbors buried most of the Southern dead in two large pits and recorded as many names as possible, but most of those buried there remain unknown, and several hundred soldiers are likely in the mass grave. The Union dead were later removed to Camp Nelson National Cemetery in Jessamine County, Kentucky. Despite efforts by soldiers and citizens to mark burial sites, dozens of unmarked graves probably still exist around the battlefield. In 1901, the Commonwealth of Kentucky erected the monument at the Confederate cemetery, beginning efforts to preserve the site.

Kentucky · United States