Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 30.djvu/255

 Battle o Pt'/v/y/vV/r. 247

The Confederate loss was: Killed, 510; wounded, 2,635; captured, 251 total, 3,396.

The Federal loss was: Killed, 845; wounded, 2,851; captured, 515 total, 4,241.

Casualties in Cheatham's Division were over 33^ per cent. The Confederates captured were taken into Perryville chiefly, and not on the line of battle. The Confederate line had entire possession of the field of battle at 6 P. M. The troops engaged who survived the battle and were ready for duty, quietly arose from their bivouac and marched toward Harrodsburg, and in a few days were at Camp Dick Robinson.

The leaders in this battle were offered great opportunities. Had Bragg concentrated his forces, as he easily could have done, he had better opportunity than Frederick the Great in the Seven Years' war, when he ruccessively attacked the French, the Austrians and the Russians. November 5, 1757, he routed the French, 60,000 strong, with 22,000, at Rossbach; December 5, 1757, he put the Austrians, 80,000 strong, to rout with 42,000 at Leuthen; then he turned his banner against the Russians, and with an inferior force drove them in August, 1758, at Zorndroff, and Prussia from that day became a dominant power in Europe. So Jackson, in the Shen- andoah Valley, with a small command, successively and successfully met Milroy, Banks, Fremont and Shields, each with a superior force.

Hardee seems to have fully taken in the situation. In his report of December i, 1862, he says:

" On the 7th I informed General Bragg, who was at Harrodsburg, that the enemy was moving in heavy force against my position. With the view of inflicting a decisive defeat, or at least of pressing him back from any further advance against our line of communica- tion in the direction of Danville and Cumberland Gap, I urged the concentration of our whole army at Perryville. On the evening of the 7th, my wing of the arniy having been re-enforced by the divis- ion of Cheatham, and orders having been issued to engage the enemy on the following morning, I again earnestly urged upon General Bragg the necessity of massing his forces on that important point."

On the 23d of November, 1862, at Tullahoma, Tenn., General Bragg issued the following order:

"The several regiments, battalions and independent companies engaged in the ever memorable battle at Perryville, Ky., on October