Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle

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Summary: After this hill a river, and beyond that, another hill!
Review: This past summer (2002) I walked the Perryville battlefield. It was a hot bright summer day with the temperature in the 90's. The tour follows the advance of the attacking Confederates as they assaulted up one hill and down the other. As the southern infantry wrestled the Union defenders off the crest of one hill, the latter retreated to the top of another, only to repeat the bloody slaughter. Dressed in light summer garb, and taking the tour at a moderate pace, I was simply exausted from both the heat and the rugged terrain. I could not help but wonder what it was like for Johnny Reb and Billy Yank dressed in hot woolen uniforms on 8 October 1862 (also a blistering day). Unlike my leisurely walk, the fighting and dying lasted all that day.Historian Kenneth W. Noe more than likely must had painted a similar mental picture. In his book _Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle_, Noe not only provides a grand overview of the campaign for Kentucky in 1862, but also brings back an art sometimes forgotten by recent historians: the battle narrative. The titles of Noe's chapters alone describe the nature of the combat: "A Babel of Confusion;" "A Small Sized Hell;" "Forward;" "A Square, Stand-Up...Fight;" and "Up the Hill Came the Rebels." Although the Confederates were credited with a "tactical victory," there were no winners at Perryville. Just as the Gettysburg citizens would be left with cleaning up the squalor of battle, so too were the scattered residents of Perryville whose homes became make-shift field hospitals. Noe consulted a vast array of sources for this scholarly treatment. Perhaps his best acomplice was Perryville park manager Kurt Holman, whose job is his passion. Holman offered Noe his unabided help on one condition: that Noe "get it right!" Noe's narrative flows evenly between higher headquarters and the musket toting private. I did not experience the difficulty with the maps expressed by other reviewers. I thought the maps were clear and simple, especially those showing the gradiant lines of the hills for which the soldiers fought. Perhaps Noe's book will not change the fact that the battle of Perryville pales compared to the larger battles in both the eastern and western theaters. Noe does, however, get the message across that Perryville was a confusing bloody day's battle fought with the musket and the bayonet. Noe's effort is a valuable addition to the literature of the Civil War in the West.