Battle of Perryville Kentucky: the Hankla Farm
By Charles H. Bogart · Originally published August 2023 · pp. 8
Battle of Perryville Kentucky: the Hankla Farm By Charles H. Bogart The Battle of Perryville, Ky., was fought October 8, 1862. This was the largest Civil War battle in Kentucky. While some claim the battle was a tactical win for the South, the fight was definitely a strategic defeat for the Confederacy. The result of the Battle of Perryville was that the Confederate Army, left Kentucky never to return in strength. Only 24 hours before the Battle of Perryville it looked as if the Blue Grass State was firmly anchored in the Confederacy. Kentucky’s capital city, Frankfort, had been captured and occupied by the Rebels. Richard Hawes Jr, had been inaugurated Confederate governor of Kentucky on the steps of the State Capitol. Confederate officials across the Commonwealth were sworn in to fill state, county, and city offices. John H. Reagan, the Postmaster General of the Confederacy, started organizing routes to provide mail service to the Commonwealth’s citizens. Within 72 hours following the Battle of Perryville everything the Confederacy had achieved in Kentucky during the previous four weeks was nullified. Federal state government returned and Confederate flags were pulled down within all of Kentucky’s major cities to be replaced by United States stars and stripes. The Hankla Farm is located in the center of the Perryville Battlefield. The
farm encompasses 311 acres, all covered by an American Battlefield Trust protective easement. The circa 1845 six room farm house is located on the farm, along with five barns that at one time housed tobacco or animals, and some other period farm outbuildings. The Goodknight Family/Confederate Military Cemetery and the site of the Goodknight Confederate field hospital are within the farm boundary. Over a mile of Chaplin River bank and part of the Doctors Fork stream bank, five farm ponds, wood lots, and pastures rich with native grasses, are broken up by thousands of feet of historical dry-stone fencing. The farm also houses vintage farm tractors and equipment, and
various agricultural mechanical tools. Gen. Braxton Bragg sent units of the Army of Mississippi across this farm. Leading the attack over the farm was Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham’s Tennessee Division. Cheatham’s Division consisted of the three brigades under Brig. Generals Daniel S. Donelson, Alexander P. Stewart, and George Early Maney. These units suffered some 276 killed and 764 wounded. The farm during the Perryville Campaign saw both Confederate and Federal troop movements before the battle, fighting the day of battle, and afterward. Following the battle, Federal troops camped on the farm. Brigadier General Philip Sheridan’s 11th Division
put the farm up for sale. They are hoping to sell the farm as an intact whole to someone who appreciates Civil War history and has the ability to preserve the historic fabric of the farm. If you have ever wanted to own a Civil War battle site, you could do no better than purchase the Hankla Farm. The email for the Hankla Farm is hshankla@yahoo.com.
During the Centennial Remembrance of the Civil War, family of Francis M. Weems, Co. B, 3rd Florida Infantry, placed this monument in the Goodnight family cemetery. It is not known where Francis Weems is buried.
This open spot within a new growth of trees was the site of the Goodknight House. For three months following the battle, the area around the house was the location of a Confederate hospital.
The Hankla-Walker House was built circa 1845. For three days in 1862 it served as Sheridan’s headquarters. The house exterior is little changed from when built. Heating is still by fireplace. Note the millstone incorporated into the stone wall. The millstones came from the farm’s Prewill Mill, located a quarter mile behind the house. The mill ground grain for use in making whiskey at the Walker Distillery.
Headquarters was located in the Hankla-Walker House for three days after the engagement. For three months after the battle, a field hospital was located at the Goodnight House. The present owners of the farm, Scott and Ren Hankla, have found and mapped about 2,000 artifacts relating to the battle. Scott and Ren Hankla have
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This stone monument in the Goodnight family cemetery was erected by the U.S. Government in 1912 to mark a Confederate grave site. On the left is Scott Hankla co-owner of the farm and on the right Bryan Bush, Perryville Battlefield Park Manager. Absent from the photo is the farm’s co-owner Ren Hankla. The inscription reads “Erected by the United States to mark the burial place of an uncertain number of Confederate soldiers said to have died while prisoners of war at the Goodknight farmhouse from wounds received at the Battle of Perryville whose grave cannot now be identified and whose names are unknown.”
Photographs from the Original Article
Captions and credits appear in the article text as originally printed.