Us in front of the Perryville Battlefield Museum
Though officially, Kentucky was neutral during the Civil War, the importance of the state was not lost on those who lead armies into battle there. Even President Abraham Lincoln said, "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." He also stated, "I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game," in a letter to Illinois Senator, Orville H. Browning.
Kentucky, being a gateway to the south, was in an important position. It was believed that holding the border state meant holding much of the south, and the supply line of the L&N Railroad, as well as the Ohio River, were crucial to military stability during the war.
October 8th, 1862, the Union and the Confederacy fought a bloody battle on Chaplin Hills in Boyle County, Kentucky, just west of Perryville. 894 Union soldiers were killed and 532 Confederates were slain. The actual battle was won by Braxton Bragg and the Confederacy, but upon learning that an entire garrison of Union soldiers was about to march on them, Bragg withdrew, taking his men into Tennessee, thus vacating the land--and the state--to the Union.
The battlefield has been preserved by the state, and people are welcome to visit the museum and roam the grounds. There is a trail around the entire park that you can drive on and see the sights and get out to read the historic markers sporadically placed.
But, tourists don't seem to be the only visitors here. It has been rumored that ghosts of the slain troops remain. Phantom gunfire has been heard in the night, and the spirits of men in uniform have been seen walking the grounds. When we visited, we heard a lot of gunfire, too, but we think there was a reenactment going on. There were also a lot of fires burning nearby. It looked like some old structures were being razed. We're not sure what that was about.
We visited the memorial site in the Confederate cemetery and conducted a spirit box session but got zero responses. Out in the area dubbed the "Valley of Death," where a very violent battle took place, we got nothing but pure silence. We have not thoroughly checked all of our pictures yet, but so far nothing has turned up. Jenny did see the faint image of a young soldier leaning on the cannon in the museum after she felt something strange near her. We did find out that the ghost of a defiant rebel supposedly lurks in the building. We found humor in this alleged report since the spirit was leaning on a cannon right by a sign that says, "Do not lean on cannon."
For more ghostly stuff, visit us at https://www.facebook.com/LouisvilleGhosts/.
Statue overlooking the Confederate cemetery
Marker at the Valley of Death
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