Jones' Ridge

Jones' Ridge. Perryville . The Battle For Kentucky. , Reaching the top of this ridge, Colonel Tomas M. Jones' Confederate brigade was met with a deadly surprise. On the hill across the valley, six Union cannon and 5,000 veteran Union soldiers faced Jones' three regiments, numbering less than 900 men., The outnumbered Mississippians tried to charge down into the valley, but they were forced back. Withdrawing to this position, dozens of Confederate dead and wounded were left scattered over the hillside., As the muskets fired and the cannon roared, a haze of black-powder smoke covered the valley between the two positions. According to local legend, the fighting was so severe that a sinkhole at the base of the hill ran red with blood., With hundreds of men killed and wounded, Jones withdrew allowing John C. Brown's brigade to attempt to take the Federal position., Brown's Confederates took position here and continued the fight. The Federal position was very strong. Luckily for the Confederates, the Union soldiers were running out of ammunition. When the Union artillery retreated, their infantry was left unsupported. The strong Union line wasn't carried until a third Confederate brigade commanded by General S.A.M. Wood took up the fight., Never will I forget it: I of course had many narrow escapes, men shot down on every side of me, balls striking near me and once as I lay on the ground taking aim, a ball so filled my eyes with dirt as to blind me for some time, but that was the nearest I came to being hurt . . . , - William A. Bryant, 3rd Florida Infantry C.S., Here it was that Company K did its first skirmishing. While upon the advance movement Company K arrived at a precipice fully thirty feet high. Captain John B. Sale halted the company and called back to Lieutenant Colonel Hays that here was a precipice thirty feet high. Hays responded, "Forward the skirmishers!" which was done, Captain Sale in the midst. When the regiment reached the place Captain McLemore, of Company B, slipped over the face of the precipice and said, "Company B follow me!" and he was followed by the entire regiment. , - R.A. Jarman, 27th Mississippi C.S., Our color bearer had planted our flag at the very top of the ridge. Their cannon and musketry swept the top with shot and shell, we were ordered to drop back and use the hill as a kind of breast work and only expose ourselves when we arose to shoot. The deafening roar of the cannon, the bursting of shells, and the rattle of musketry made a perfect inferno. After we had been thus fighting for perhaps an hour, I saw our flag go down, and I ran to it and planted the remaining part of the flag staff firmly in the ground and fired. , George M.C. Davis, 30th Mississippi C.S., (Caption):, Confederate General John Calvin Brown (1827-1889) , Brown commanded the brigade of Florida and Mississippi troops that topped this ridge, reliving Jones brigade. Brown was shot through the right thigh while leading his troops here., Dedicated to the men of the 27th Mississippi