The Cornfield

During the Battle of Perryville, a valley covered by ten-foot-high cornstalks, brown and dry from a severe drought, concealed 800 men of the 21st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. In the army for less than a month, many of these new recruits had never before fired their rifles. For more than an hour they listened as Terrill’s brigade fought Maney’s soldiers for control of the hill above the field. Then, as Terrill’s panicked troops retreated through the corn, some of the Wisconsin soldiers held their ground while others mixed with the fleeing brigade and ran. As Confederates advanced, Union troops on the hill fired indiscriminately into the field, and struck by bullets from both armies, the Wisconsans fired only once before retreating. In the brief, chaotic struggle, most officers of the 21st Wisconsin were killed or wounded. After Union soldiers were driven from the cornfield, Maney’s brigade continued its attack toward Starkweather’s Hill.

Kentucky · United States