The Union Monument in Perryville is an historic monument located by the visitor center of the

Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site is a park near Perryville in Boyle County, Kentucky. The park continues to expand with purchases of parcels by the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves' Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund and th ...

, in the vicinity of

Perryville, Kentucky Perryville () is a home rule-class city along the Chaplin River in western Boyle County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 751 at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census. It is part of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area. Hist ...

, in

Boyle County, Kentucky Boyle County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,614. Its county seat is Danville. The county was formed in 1842 and named for John Boyle (1774–1835), a U.S. Representative, chie ...

. It was built in 1928, sixty-six years after the

Battle of Perryville The Battle of Perryville, also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills, was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive (Kentucky Campaign) during the A ...

, the bloodiest battle in Kentucky history, on October 8, 1862. There were 16,000 Union soldiers at the Battle of Perryville, with 4,276 combined killed, captured, wounded, and missing.Perryville, Kentucky
trailsrus.com The monument was created by a decree of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

on March 3, 1928. It is a granite obelisk, eighteen feet tall, and is one of only seven monuments to the war in Kentucky that honored the Union cause; the vast majority honored the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. Inscriptions are placed on the north and south sides of the monument. All but one Union monument in Kentucky was erected by the Federal Government or private funds. The monument at Vanceburg, Kentucky is the only Union structure in Kentucky erected by public submission. On July 17, 1997, the Union Monument in Perryville was one of sixty different monuments related to the

Civil War in Kentucky History of Kentucky, Kentucky was a Border states (American Civil War), border state of key importance in the American Civil War. It officially declared its neutrality at the beginning of the war, but after a failed attempt by Confedera ...

placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, as part of the Civil War Monuments of Kentucky

Multiple Property Submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of Historic districts in the United States, districts, sites, buildings, struc ...

. Three other monuments on this Multiple Property Submission are also in Boyle County. One of them, the

Confederate Monument in Perryville The Confederate Monument in Perryville is a historic monument located by the visitor center of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, in the vicinity of Perryville, Kentucky, in Boyle County, Kentucky, USA. It was built in 1902, forty y ...

, stands between the Union Monument and the visitor center of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, a few yards away. The

Unknown Confederate Dead Monument in Perryville The Unknown Confederate Dead Monument in Perryville is located in the vicinity of Perryville, in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States, in the Goodknight Cemetery, a small family cemetery on private land. It is presumed to have been constructed ...

is a mile away on private land at the Goodknight Cemetery. Like the Union monument, it was built in 1928, much later than the 1902 construction of the Confederate Monument. The other is in downtown

Danville, Kentucky Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...

: the

Confederate Monument in Danville The Confederate Monument in Danville, originally located between Centre College and the First Presbyterian Church at the corner of Main and College Streets in Danville, Kentucky, was a monument dedicated to the Confederate States of America tha ...

Gallery

Image:Union Monument in Perryville.jpg, Monument on a cloudy day Image:Union Monument in Perryville aura.JPG, Aura around monument Image:Union Monument in Perryville sunny 2.JPG, Driving circle around the monument

References

{{American Civil War monuments in Kentucky Civil War Monuments of Kentucky MPS National Register of Historic Places in Boyle County, Kentucky 1928 sculptures Obelisks in the United States 1928 establishments in Kentucky Union (American Civil War) monuments and memorials in Kentucky