The 15th Kentucky Infantry (US)

The 15th Kentucky Infantry (US), recruited in the fall of 1861 from northern Kentucky and the Louisville area, fought at Perryville in Colonel William Lytle’s brigade of General Lovell Rousseau’s division with 517 men under Colonel Curran Pope. Perryville was the regiment’s first major battle despite a year in the army. South of the Mackville Road, the 15th supported the 3rd Ohio against repeated attacks by Confederate General Bushrod Johnson’s brigade after Johnson’s men crossed Doctor’s Creek and entered the yard of the Bottom House, where fire from the 3rd and 15th pinned them down. When the 3rd Ohio exhausted its ammunition, the 15th moved into the front line and held under heavy artillery and rifle fire until about 4:15 PM, when Brigadier General Daniel Adams’ Louisiana brigade turned its right flank. Although Pope had been wounded early, he stayed in command and turned the regiment to meet this new attack, but as it faced south, General Patrick Cleburne’s brigade attacked from the Bottom House and forced the 15th Kentucky and 3rd Ohio to withdraw west toward the Dixville Crossroads. After a brief stand there, the 15th withdrew from the fight. Its losses at Perryville were 203 killed, wounded, and missing, a 39% casualty rate, and the dead included Lieutenant Colonel George Jouett, the son of a famous artist and former mayor of Lexington. Pope, a West Point graduate and prominent Louisville politician, remained on duty despite his wounds but died of typhoid in Danville on November 5, 1862. Captain James Brown Forman became the regiment’s next commander and was killed on New Year’s Eve 1862 at the Battle of Stones River. The regiment went on to serve in all the major battles of the Army of the Cumberland until mustering out in 1865.

Kentucky · United States