The Kentucky Campaign of 1862 and Drought

Abstract

In the late summer and early autumn of 1862, Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Kentucky Campaign failed to regain Tennessee or add Kentucky to the Confederacy. Starting in Mississippi, Bragg’s Confederate army had first entered Tennessee. After Maj. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith’s smaller Confederate army invaded Kentucky, Bragg followed. Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s Federal army trailed Bragg north before diverting to Louisville. Summer heat and a massive drought made campaigning onerous, while supporting Confederate actions in northeastern Mississippi failed to divert troops from Bragg’s path. Bragg won a confused tactical victory at Perryville, but his outnumbered army retreated to Tennessee along with Kirby Smith. Throughout the campaign, enslaved Kentuckians seeking emancipation sought protection from Union forces. On the fringes, a brutal guerrilla war flared up. Bragg’s ultimate failure secured Union control of Kentucky for the remainder of the war.