Today in History:

114 Series I Volume XVI-I Serial 22 - Morgan's First Kentucky Raid, Perryville Campaign Part I

Page 114 KY.,M. AND E.TENN.,N.ALA., AND SE.VA. Chapter XXVIII.

Question. By what routes might the enemy have been expected to retreat from Kentucky if he had determined to retreat without further resistance?

There were three roads left open for him. He could have gone off by Danville, Stanford, Mount Vernon, and Cumberland Gap, and could have gone the route through Stanford and Somerset, or he might have crossed the Kentucky River and escaped by Mount Sterling into Western Virginia.

Question. Did the concentration of the enemy at Harrodsburg, either previously or subsequently to the battle of Perryvile indicate an intention to retreat from the State precipitately?

It did not. The march to Harrodsburg did not indicate an abandonment of the State. My information led me to believe that they would fight at a place near Harrdsburg, and when they went to Camp dick Robinson I confidently expected to have a fight there, their position being a very strong one.

Question. Supposing it had been assumed that the enemy designed to retreat after the battle of Perryville and that he designed to retreat by way of Cumberland Gap, please state what road or roads he must have taken from Camp Dick Robinson and what position an army should have taken to interrupt him.

Our army would either had to have gone via Crab Orchard to Mount Vernon to have intercepted him or the Lancaster route and to have cut them off on the Richmond route. I should have thought the army ought to have been near London.

Question. Suppose my army to have been directed on different points you have named, then, on the assumption that the enemy was retreating finally from the State, in what position would it have placed my line of ammunition, supposing the enemy to have been at Harrodsburg or in that region?

It would have placed them in possession of the enemy.

Question. Did the enemy in moving from Harrodsburg go through Danville at all?

No, sir; I don't think they did. I understand that a part of their cavalry did, but their army did not.

By General BUELL:

Question. General, will you please describe the character of the country bordering the Chaplin River, on both sides, north of Perryville, from there toward Harrodsburg, west of the Harrdsburg road, and of that region of country within a scope of, say, 10 miles west from the Harrodsburg road?

The bed of Chaplin River is a very deep one. It was dry with the exception of water standing in pools. The country immediately north of Perryville was a rough one. All the country between the Mackville and Perryville road and the Harrodsburg and Perryville turnpike was rough. There were winding approaches down to the bed of the Chaplin River and approaches from the rive which led toward the Harrodsburg pike. Between Perryville and Harrodsburg there was a very strong position for the enemy. The country is rugged and rough. I do not know of any good road that connects the Mackville and Perryville with the Harrodsburg road.

Question. Is it a country in which an army could operate conveniently or from which it could extricate itself if defeated?

I do not think it is, because the road I marched on I consider a bad road, and the same character of country prevails till you get into the valley of the Salt River.

Question. Supposing an army giving battle in that position which the enemy occupied at Perryville and driven back on its left and compelled to fall back, what road would it be desirable for it to take; what would be the natural line of retreat?

Their natural line of retreat would be by the Harrodsburg road.


Page 114 KY.,M. AND E.TENN.,N.ALA., AND SE.VA. Chapter XXVIII.