Battle of Richmond
The Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, was the most lopsided battle in all of the American Civil War. On August 26th, Smith's forces continued their march north towards Kentucky. On the 29th, seven miles south of Richmond, Smith's cavalry encountered resistance from Union forces and were driven back. Smith, who did not know the strength of the Union forces in front of him, decided to attack the next day.
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| General Edmund "Kirby" Smith |
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| Major General William Nelson |
The attack began the next morning, August 30, at 2:30. Major General, William Nelson, who was located in Lexington, Kentucky, received a knock on the door informing him that two of his brigades were under attack at Richmond, Kentucky. Both brigades were "green recruits" who had no battle experience. Due to Nelson's absence, in charge was Brigadier General Malhon Manson. Fighting persisted throughout the course of the morning into the early afternoon, when Nelson arrived at Richmond. Upon arrival, Nelson found the Union army in the process of routing from the field. Nelson was able to rally his forces, and get them into position for defense. While in the process of rallying his troops, he walked up and down the Union lines yelling to his troops, "if they can't hit me they can't hit anything" (Foote, 652). He was mistaken and was struck two times, and his troops, seeing their leader get shot, proceeded to rout from the field. With that, the Battle of Richmond was over. Confederate losses of the12000 involved, were reported at 78 killed, 372, wounded, and 1 missing. Union losses,on the other hand, were much higher. Of the 7000 who participated in the battle, 206 were killed, 844 wounded, and 4303 were either captured or listed as missing.
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| Brigadier General Malhon Manson |
Link to battle map
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/richmond/maps/richmondmap.html
Battle of Munfordville
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| General Braxton Bragg |
The Battle of Munfordville wasn't much better for Union forces. Late August, General Braxton Bragg left Chattanooga, Tennessee to march north towards Kentucky, with the hope of gaining control over the state of Kentucky. Covering over 150 miles in the over just a few weeks, he was right were he wanted to be, Glasgow, Kentucky. Since Bragg marched north, Union forces under General Don Carlos Buell retreated back into Nashville, were they would wait and see what Bragg's army would do; whether they would go north into Kentucky or try and attack Nashville. Seeing that Bragg was going into Kentucky, Buell led his forces to Bowling Green, Kentucky where there was a massive amount of Union supplies. Because Buell's troops were back in Kentucky, this took pressure off the states of Tennessee and Alabama. Both states were previously occupied by the Union, but with Buell gone, they were no longer occupied, and it occurred without the Confederates having to engage in a single battle.
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| Colonel John T. Wilder |
Bragg liked his position because he was in the middle of of both Smith's troops and Buell's troops. Being in the middle of the two forces allowed Bragg the opportunity to decide whether or not combine forces to attack Buell or choose to go further north and attack cities such as Louisville or Cincinnati. Bragg, however, would do neither. He instead choose to engaged an Union held fort on the near the city of Mundfordville. A Confederate force under Brigadier General James R. Chalmers had attacked the fort without consent from Bragg and was unsuccessful in his attempt to take the fort. On September 16, 1862 Bragg began besieging the fort and requests the surrender of the fort within a hour or a siege will commence. Union commander, Colonel John T. Wilder, was not sure whether or not to accept Bragg's demands of unconditional surrender because he didn't know how large Bragg's forces were.
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| Major General Simon Buckner |
Wilder knew that one of his friends from West Point, Simon Buckner, was in charge of a besieging Confederate division. He went to Buckner under a flag of truce and requested his opinion as to what he should do. Buckner knew he couldn't tell him what to do but he decided to show Wilder the Confederate layout for the siege. Upon seeing the Confederate plan for destruction, Wilder decided to surrender the fort. Bragg took 4267 prisoners, 10 guns, and 5000 rifles from the fort and now had the the opportunity to look for other Union targets.
Link to battle map
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/munfordville/munfordville.html
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