Perryville

Along the Chaplin River

Ducks rested on exposed rock along the bed of the Chaplin River as my friends, the Kaelins, and I surveyed the water from a pedestrian bridge. Like us, the birds preferred the sunny side of the river, just beyond the shade of the historic buildings on the opposite bank in downtown Perryville.

We watched the water move over the river’s rocky bottom and along its stone retaining walls as it headed from Boyle County toward Mercer County. Its flow eventually reaches Nelson County near Chaplin, traveling a distance of at least 80 miles.

Classified as a stream by the state, the river is popular for fishing smallmouth bass at points heading north. It is also popular with kayakers and canoeists who are encouraged by local paddle outfitters to float the stream and spot local wildlife including otter, beaver, and wild turkey, among other species.

For all its natural beauty, the Chaplin River also has a rich social and political history. And a good place to begin to explore that history is Merchants Row, an 1800s business district that comprises those historic structures on the other side of the bridge.

Merchants Row

Most of the buildings on Merchants Row today have stood beside the Chaplin since the early- to mid-1800s, including the Latimer’s Dry Goods Store building (1840), Greens Drug Store building (1840), and the Johnson Britton House (1845). They were part of the earliest plan for the town, incorporated in 1817.

Today the Johnson Britton House is home to Main Street Perryville, an economic development, tourism, and preservation program in Perryville. The house is one of the first buildings you see on Merchants Row after you cross the Chaplin River on U.S. 150 and turn left onto South Buell Street.

A state historic marker next to the Johnson Britton House tells the story of Merchants Row in brief, including a couple of tidbits you might not expect:

-Carrie Nation lived on Merchants Row as a child, at least for a while. (Nation, who was born in Kentucky, was a feared temperance leader known throughout Kansas and Missouri for smashing up drinking establishments with a hatchet.)

-Union and Confederate soldiers engaged in a street fight on Merchants Row in 1862 as fighting from the Battle of Perryville spilled into downtown. (A cannonball from the battle had also reportedly smashed through the roof and lodged into a bedroom door of the Johnson Britton House.)

Before the Civil War, the street that runs along Merchants Row was called Main Street. It was later renamed South Buell in honor of Union Gen. Don Carlos Buell — the man who forced the Confederates into retreat on the battlefield during what would be a pivotal moment in U.S. history.

Battle of Perryville

The Civil War Battle of Perryville was a turning point in the war for Kentucky. Historians say it ensured our state would remain part of the Union and, according to the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site Facilities Map, was the “high water mark” for the South. “Never again were the Western Confederates closer to winning the war,” the map brochure reads.

Civil War historian Christopher L. Kolakowski wrote in his book The Civil War at Perryville: Battling for the Bluegrass: “In many ways, both the fate of Kentucky and the fate of the United States rested on the outcome of the campaign and Battle of Perryville.”

Aftermath

The defining battle happened on Oct. 8, 1862 when around 72,000 Union and Confederate soldiers entered the area to stake claim. At least 36,000 soldiers fought the battle, with at least 7,000 left dead, injured, or missing after a Confederate retreat and the battle’s end.

We learned during our visit to the battlefield — now Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site –that nearly every home and building nearby became a makeshift hospital for wounded soldiers. One of the homes was located back on Merchants Row, at the home and office of Dr. J.J. Polk.

Dr. Polk treated hundreds of soldiers injured in the battle. He would later publish an autobiography that includes what have been called “some of the most bone-chilling descriptions of the battlefield.”

Both Union and Confederate monuments were erected at the battlefield in the early decades of the 1900s. The Confederate monument is located on a mass grave of over 200 still mostly unidentified soldiers who died because of the conflict; Only two individual Confederate headstones are found inside cemetery’s walls.

The Union memorial, not far away, leaves visitors with this inscription of words from Lord Byron:

“For Freedoms battle,

Once begun,

Bequeathed by bleeding

Sire to son,

Though baffled oft,

Is ever won.”  

New life

Perryville Battlefield today is bursting with life on around 1,000 acres of preserved land, thanks to a concerted effort to preserve native plants and wildlife at the site. You can tour the land on 20 miles of trails that let you view the battlefield much as it would have appeared 158 years ago. Over 50 interpretive signs are placed along the trails, with self-guided walking tour maps available at the park museum.

We will stay in Boyle County for another week to tour Danville – home of Centre College, the Great American Brass Band Festival, and the place where a series of constitutional conventions led to Kentucky’s statehood in 1792. I hope you’ll come along for the road trip as we explore more history and some Danvillian eats!

Still curious? Contact Main Street Perryville located in the Johnson Britton House, 216 S. Buell Street. You can reach Main Street Perryville at  http://www.downtownperryville.com/ or by calling (859) 332-1862.