Wilkerson House Site

Wilkerson House Site. Perryville . The Battle For Kentucky. , At the time of the Battle of Perryville, a house stood on this site. Owned by farmer David C. Wilkerson, he and his wife, Harriett, had four daughters. Like many families, their lives were overturned by Kentucky's largest Civil War battle., As the fighting raged near the home, the house was behind Union lines. Colonel John C. Starkweather's brigade made their final stand on the ridge located in front of you. On that hill his men saved the Union left flank., The Wilkerson House quickly became a field hospital. Union Brigadier General William R. Terrill, mortally wounded by artillery shrapnel, was likely brought here after his injury Terrill died at 2:00 a.m. the next day. His last words were, "My poor wife, my poor wife.", "I had been seated at the door step about half an hour . . . when a surgeon told an officer in my hearing as he came out of the house 'that General Terrill had just died.' The announcement fell with such a crushing blow, that I for a moment was staggered by the news . . . I approached the part of the building where his stalwart figure lay stretched upon the floor a shirt drawn around him to conceal has cruelly mutilated form, I turned and went into the yard again, not daring to trust myself to look upon a sight the recollections of which I knew could not be banished from my memory until the last moment of my life." , - Union Captain Robert B. Taylor, Terrill's Brigade, (Captions):, Brig. Gen. William Terrill, Col. John Starkweather