Perryville the unappreciated but critical battle

[Kirk's Raider's]

Perryville is an often overlooked but critical battle of the ACW.
Lincoln himself said " to loose Kentucky is to loose the game".
If the Confederacy can't control Kentucky then the Union Army and Navy can and did use Kentucky's rivers to invade Tennessee.
If the Confederacy can't keep Tennessee then they are leaving themselves wide open for a Union offensive into other states which did indeed happen as Union forces then could and did invade Alabama and Georgia via Tennessee.
The Confederacy had one and only one golden opportunity to conquer Kentucky and they blew at Perryville.
Let the debate begin!
Kirk's Raider's

 

[jgoodguy]

Perryville is an often overlooked but critical battle of the ACW.
Lincoln himself said " to loose Kentucky is to loose the game".
If the Confederacy can't control Kentucky then the Union Army and Navy can and did use Kentucky's rivers to invade Tennessee.
If the Confederacy can't keep Tennessee then they are leaving themselves wide open for a Union offensive into other states which did indeed happen as Union forces then could and did invade Alabama and Georgia via Tennessee.
The Confederacy had one and only one golden opportunity to conquer Kentucky and they blew at Perryville.
Let the debate begin!
Kirk's Raider's

It looks like one of those critical battles that are generally unknown.

Subsequent events

Following the Battle of Perryville, the Union maintained control of Kentucky for the rest of the war. Historian James M. McPherson considers Perryville to be part of a great turning point of the war, "when battles at Antietam and Perryville threw back Confederate invasions, forestalled European mediation and recognition of the Confederacy, perhaps prevented a Democratic victory in the northern elections of 1862 that might have inhibited the government's ability to carry on the war, and set the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation which enlarged the scope and purpose of the conflict."[72]​

 

[Kirk's Raider's]

It looks like one of those critical battles that are generally unknown.

Subsequent events

Following the Battle of Perryville, the Union maintained control of Kentucky for the rest of the war. Historian James M. McPherson considers Perryville to be part of a great turning point of the war, "when battles at Antietam and Perryville threw back Confederate invasions, forestalled European mediation and recognition of the Confederacy, perhaps prevented a Democratic victory in the northern elections of 1862 that might have inhibited the government's ability to carry on the war, and set the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation which enlarged the scope and purpose of the conflict."[72]​

I agree that Perryville was a crucial battle of the ACW but it somehow went under the radar so to speak. Conventional warfare is pretty basic in the sense if one side can't seize and hold enemy territory but their opponent can then the former looses to the latter.
Kirk's Raider's