"On October 8, 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed near Perryville, Kentucky, in what would be the largest battle ever fought on Kentucky soil. The climax of a campaign that began two months before in northern Mississippi, Perryville came to be recognized as the high water mark of the western Confederacy. Some said the hard-fought battle, forever remembered by participants for its sheer savagery and for their commanders' confusion, was the worst battle of the war, ending the South's last chance to bring the Commonwealth into the Confederacy and leaving Kentucky firmly under Federal control. Although Gen. Braxton Bragg's Confederates won the day, Bragg soon retreated in the face of Gen. Don Carlos Buell's overwhelming numbers.". "Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle is the definitive account of this important conflict. Kenneth Noe details the events leading up to Bragg's Kentucky Campaign, places the battle squarely in the political and social context of Kentucky's Civil War, paints the battle in great detail, and follows the armies back to Tennessee. In addtion to deft biographical protraits of key figures on both sides, Noe clearly sets up the commands - units and leaders - that would wage the campaign."--BOOK JACKET.