The Battle of Richmond, Kentucky

By Phillip Seyfrit

Presentation to CCWRT on 21 October 2010, Summarized by Mike Rhein

Photography by Mike Rogers

©Cincinnati CWRT, 2010

The most complete Confederate victory of the war occurred on August 29-30, 1862. Oh. That would be the smashing rout of Union general John Pope’s army by General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Manassas, Va., right? Nope. How about at a little-known place in Kentucky in the area of Richmond and Rogersville along the Old State Road (now U.S. 25)? No kidding.

According to our October speaker, Phillip Seyfrit, the destruction of the Union Army of Kentucky was the most complete victory for one side during the entire War Between the States. Mr. Seyfrit (left), who serves as the Historic Properties Director of Madison County, KY, said that loss of men and material sustained by Union General William “Bull” Nelson’s army was more than 85 percent. The numbers engaged by both sides were not the magnitude of a Gettysburg, as Mr. Seyfrit noted, but Gen. Nelson’s army (6,500 Federals) sustained losses of 206 killed, 84 wounded and 4303 captured, and Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith’s Confederate army (6,600) lost 122 killed, 519 wounded and three captured (or missing).

Besides the Union army practically ceasing to exist in the wake of the disastrous defeat, the victory enabled Smith’s army to take over the city of Lexington and the state capital of Frankfort, the only time in the entire war that a Confederate army occupied an enemy capital, Mr. Seyfrit said. He added that some Confederate troops went as far north as Florence (Boone County) and that “the road to Cincinnati was open.” With Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army moving north (west of Smith’s army) and eventually coming to battle with Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s at Perryville, Ky. the following October, much of the Bluegrass state was in Confederate control for several weeks (even a provisional Confederate government was established). However, as a result of Bragg’s defeat at Perryville and Smith retreating southward from Lexington, the hopes of regaining Kentucky as a state for the Confederacy were dashed for good. (General Smith--right; General Nelson--below.)

While Mr. Seyfrit provided a firm basis in his presentation in establishing the significance of a small battle early in the sectional conflict (in relative terms of the entire war) in Kentucky which had potential ramifications for that state, negative or positive, depending on each side’s point-of-view, he waxed eloquently with passion towards the end of his program regarding the subject of preservation, a subject dear to any student of the American Civil War, particularly in the past 20 years and vitally important to Civil War groups like ours who have donated funds to preservation projects around the country.

He commented that, as of nine years ago, there were three or four historical markers at the Richmond battlefield that were “put up in the ‘50’s.” and “were all wrong.” Mr. Seyfrit noted that the Battle of Richmond Association has been responsible for saving over 600 acres of “prime battlefield land” and five buildings. One of those buildings, the Rogers house, is the Visitor’s Center, he said, adding that they are “redoing some other buildings there.” The speaker stressed that the Richmond Battlefield is the “closest significant battle to Cincinnati.” In assessing the prodigious preservationist efforts there, Mr. Seyfrit attributed the “success story” of the “county government and private sector” working together.

In a brochure provided by Mr. Seyfrit after the program, a statement by Ed Bearss (historian emeritus for the National Park Service who has spoken to the Cincinnati Civil War Round Table) illustrates the significant efforts by the aforementioned association: “No other group in the United States has done more to save and preserve their battlefield and related sites as the Battle of Richmond Association.” The battlefield is accessible near I-75 (exit 83) on 101 Battlefield Memorial Hwy. The phone number to contact for information is (859) 624-0013.

For more information, visit the website of the Battle of Richmond Association here.