Description:

Bragg, Braxton (1817-1876) Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg writes of his forces at the Battle of Chaplin Hills, Kentucky, after capturing the state capital from the Union Army

Autograph Letter Signed "Braxton Bragg" with postscript signed "B.B.," 2 pages, 7.75" x 8.5". New Orleans, January 31, 1868. To Mr. Wade Hampton Reed. On lined paper. Fine condition.

In full, "Your request made in note of 25" inst. for 'the number of troops under your (my) command during battle of Chaplin Hills at Perryville, Ky. Oct. 8" 1862.' is best answered by the following extract from my official report which is cheerfully given - All that any of us should now desire is a simple statement of facts. Upon them the future historian will base his judgment - Of this force, the whole cavalry and one Brigade, 1500 Infantry, were not in the battle -

"Extract. 'Maj. Genl Polk arrived at Perryville with Cheatham's Division before midnight of the 7" and the troops were placed by Maj. Genl. Hardee in the line of battle previously established. Our forces now in position consisted of three divisions of Infantry - about 14,500 - and two small brigades of cavalry, about 1500.' To these the

"This report was written in the absence of the official returns. Upon a comparison afterwards, it was found the 'effective force' present had been slightly over estimated."

In a postscript, Bragg penned: "It will afford me pleasure to aid you with any further facts to elucidate a subject so greatly misunderstood, and I have fortunately preserved many. B. B."

The battle of Chaplin Hills (Union name), also known as the battle of Perryville (Confederate name), was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive.

"The battle of Perryville symbolized the high-water mark of the Confederacy in the western theater of operations. In August 1862 General Braxton Bragg and Major General (MG) Edmund Kirby Smith led separate armies into Kentucky to wrest the state from the Union and install a Confederate governor. They initially met success and captured the state capital, simultaneously shifting the war in the west from northern Mississippi and Alabama to Kentucky... On 8 October 1862 Buell's army clashed with Bragg's at Perryville. The Confederates achieved a tactical success in a hard-fought engagement that generated more than 7,000 casualties." - Dr. Robert S. Cameron, Office of the Armor Historian, US Army Armor Center, Fort Knox, Kentucky.

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