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Union Monument Dedication October 8, 1931
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Colonel F. S. Young, commander of the 10th Infantry, delivering the dedication speech. (photograph courtesy of the Louisville Courier-Journal)
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On May 14, 1931, Captain W. L. Bartley, constructing quartermaster of the United States War Department, announced construction of a monument on the Perryville Battlefield in memory of the Federal soldiers that died at the Battle of Perryville on October 8, 1862. On March 3, 1928, Congress appropriated $5,000, which is equivalent to $98,411.00 today, for the monument which cost $2,000 and improvements of the grounds which cost $3,000 and acquired four acres of the battlefield. The Federal government planned to take over the seventeen acres and make the battlefield a national cemetery, which never came to fruition. At the time, the State of Kentucky owned seventeen acres of the battlefield. The monument was to be placed about 125 feet from the Confederate monument. i. The monument was made in Georgia and constructed of Mount Airy granite. The monument is twenty feet high, on a base of five by nine feet. The inscription reads: “To the valiant soldiers of the Army of the United States, who bravely fought and heroically fell in the Battle of Perryville on Oct. 8, 1862. This monument in grateful memory of their loyal service and noble sacrifice, has been erected by the reunited Republic they died to save.” On the opposite of the monument the inscription reads: “For Freedom’s battle, Once Begun, Bequeathed By Bleeding Sire to Son, though Baffled Oft, Is Ever Won” ii. The Perryville Battlefield Commission, the Community Council Parent-Teacher Association, and the Women’s Club worked on the plans for the unveiling of the monument on October 8, 1931, on the sixty-nineth anniversary of the battle of Perryville.
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Left to Right: C. F. Van Arsdale, A. C. Crane, J. H. Middleton, Ben Morris, George W. Harris. (photograph courtesy of the Louisville Courier-Journal)
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On October 8, 1931, five thousand people traveled to the Perryville battlefield to watch the unveiling of the Union monument. The spectators had to watch the ceremony in the mud and rain. Kentucky Governor Flem Sampson, Kentucky Senator Alben Barkley, and State Legion Commander Bacon Moore were at the dedication ceremony. Colonel F. S. Young, commander of the 10th Infantry at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, gave a speech and five-year old Geneva Mayes, attired in a white and silver robe and a crown of silver, drew the string unveiling the monument.
At 11 a.m., the morning ceremonies were performed by Reverend Herman Jones, pastor of the Perryville Presbyterian Church, who gave the invocation. Next in the morning program was Mrs. R. C. Wade of Perryville who gave a reading, followed by Commander Moore, who delivered the principal speech of the morning. At 1 p.m., the afternoon ceremonies began with the 10th Infantry giving military maneuvers and the military band giving a concert. The troops and five thousand people stood in the rain waiting for Governor Sampson. He did not show on time, so the program started without him. After the ceremonies were over and the crowd began to go home the Governor walked through the mud into the battlefield entrance, explaining he had been held up by the rain and traffic.
Colonel Young’s address speech was followed by a short talk by Senator Alben Barkley. In Colonel Young’s speech, he stated:
Just sixty-nine years ago today two powerful armies struggled and fought for many hours over the ground which we now stand. When the shades of night had fallen upon the field of battle the casualties in killed, wounded, and missing numbered 8,000 men.
A monument has been erected to those who fell on the Confederate side, and we are met today to dedicate a monument in their honor of those who gave up their lives for the Union.
Credit is due the Perryville Battlefield Commission and the citizens of the community. Their patriotic motives in arranging this dedication are highly appreciated by the War Department and, I may add, the Nation at large. iii.
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In his speech Colonel Young explained the events leading up to the battle of Perryville pointing out the desire of the government in Washington, D.C. at that time to enlist Kentucky on the Union side in the war. He explained how Confederate General Braxton Bragg, commander of the Army of the Mississippi, invaded the state with the purpose of encouraging the citizens of Kentucky to join the Southern cause and secure Kentucky for the Confederacy. Colonel Young told the crowd about the military maneuvers of Bragg and Union General Don Carlos Buell, commander of the Army of the Ohio, and how the two armies finally met in battle near Perryville. He ended his speech by saying: “In the name of a grateful people and of the reunited republic they died to save, I dedicate this monument to the valiant soldiers of the army of the United States who bravely fought and heroically fell in the Battle of Perryville.”
Although the dedication was for the Union monument, men who fought for the Confederacy also were present in the crowd. George W. Harris, who was born on April 9, 1843, and a corporal in the 42nd Indiana Infantry, Company B, at the Battle of Perryville, was a retired merchant from Gentryville, Indiana. He claimed he was the first to have drawn musketry fire of the battle. He also pointed out the exact spot where the battle started on the Union right. Harris was visiting his daughter, Ida Boyer who lived in Louisville. He was brought to the battlefield by his son O. D. Harris, also of Louisville. Harris said: “There had been cannonading in the morning and our regiment was along a branch beside the road leading into Perryville from the west. Some of the boys had gone to a puddle 100 yards away to get water. I went to the pool, filled my canteen, and started back. The Confederate skirmish line was advancing down a slope from the woods. There had not been shost fired until a bullet passed me and struck a stone wall as I was half-way back to the regiment. During my absence it had assumed battle formation. My comrades returned fire and the battle was on.
Behind the skirmish line were the Confederate forces and we had to retreat over a hill. We found a battle line already there, supporting the artillery. We marched north half an hour, formed a line of battle and fought until dark. The Southerners were on a knoll, northeast of us where the Confederate monument now stands.
Harris was originally from Chaplin Creek, Nelson County, but moved with his parents when he was a child to Spencer County, Indiana. Harris died on January 26, 1936, and is buried in Gentryville, Indiana.
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Troops of the 10th Kentucky Infantry, Fort Thomas, Kentucky. (photograph courtesy of the Louisville Courier-Journal)
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Also present at the dedication ceremony were other Union veterans. A. T. Duram, 86, was with the 7th Kentucky Cavalry, from Harrodsburg, Kentucky; J. T. Thompson, 86, was in the 30th Kentucky Cavalry and 37th Kentucky Infantry, Paint Lick, W. J. Florence, 95, 6th Kentucky Cavalry, Junction City; S. B. Whalem, 84, 20th Kentucky Infantry, Cynthiana; M. W. Mullins, 87, 1st Kentucky Cavalry, Bradfordsville; John H. Middletown, 88, corporal, 15th Kentucky Infantry, Company F, (wounded in the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia) Hodgenville; James W. Sherron, 88, 8th Kentucky Cavalry, Shelby City; Benjamin Morris, 82, 37th Kentucky Infantry, Company E, Hodgenville; J. C. McFadden, 87, 24th Kentucky Infantry, London; William Robinson, 87, 11th Kentucky Cavalry, Mercer County; Dan Johnson, 86, Hartford City, Indiana; C. J. Van Arsdall, 92, 19th Kentucky Infantry; A. C. Crane, Harrodsburg; J. B. Meyers, 88, Moreland.
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i. Battle Monument to be Erected, The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, May 14, 1931, 3.
ii. Battle Monument Will Be Dedicated, The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, August 28, 1931.
iii. Shaft Unveiled At Perryville, The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, October 9, 1931, 12.
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Historic Reunions and Gatherings at the Battlefield
Commemorating 100 Years of Kentucky State Parks
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