Exploring Richmond, Kentucky.

On a warm fall day in 2011 Gary Kempf, Richard Briggs, John Gatton and
myself took a road trip to Richmond, Kentucky (the county of Madison) to
learn more about the battle of Richmond that took place there in August
of 1862.

We started in the cemetery, actually going backwards in the battle's
timeline (phase III). After stopping in the office and acquiring a map
to reach the Confederate monument, we made our way to that part of the
cemetery. The monument itself is a sobering salute to the fallen rebel
army men who lost their lives, ironically, in a cemetery. A smaller,
older stone that sits nearby reads, 'The Southern Dead'. An old,
withered Confederate battle flag stands erect next to it.

We walked over to the oldest part of the cemetery, not far from the mass
Confederate grave. Here there were old Kentucky pioneers
buried here as early as 1831. One stone had a dove resting on top- its
tail and beak were broken off. This sparked my imagination because phase
three of this battle, which I had not gotten into the details here yet,
actually happened here, where we stood. The ages of these graves told
us that they were here when the last phrase of the battle happened. We
know through accounts from Union soldiers who survived this battle that
many of the stones were used as shields from the firing of the Rebels.
At this point of the battle, the Federals were in total disorder,
fleeing from the relentless onslaught of Confederate fighting. They
retreated back into town. Scott’s cavalry rode west to cut off their
retreat, (under the command of General Kirby Smith) and virtually all of
Maj. Gen. Bull Nelson’s army was captured.

I positioned myself behind one particular headstone, with my back to the
city of Richmond and my face towards White's farm, where the Federals
would've just left in retreat. This is where I would've been looking
right at a gray coat if this day was August 30th, 1862. I shuttered at
the thought. I wondered if the tail and beak on the bird that sat
quietly upon the old headstone had been shot off by one of these
oncoming soldiers? What stories these stones could tell, stories beyond
the description etched on about the bodies who lay six feet below them.