Kentucky, Boyle County, Perryville
![]()
After capturing Union Captain Samuel Harris' artillery battery, located behind you, Confederate troops led by Brigadier General St. John r. Liddell moved to this area to support other advancing Southern units.
Night was falling, and , as Liddell's men deployed, they fired upon a "dark line" of soldiers located in the fields in front of you. Cries of "You are firing upon friends; for God's sake stop!" echoed across the field. Liddell's men ceased fire, and Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk, second-in-command at Perryville, rode forward to investigate this possible instance of friendly fire.
Polk immediately encountered the colonel of the mysterious regiment and asked the officer why he was firing upon "his friends." The Colonel replied, "I don't think there can be any mistake about it. I am sure they are the enemy." "Enemy?" Polk huffed. "Why I have only just left them myself - cease firing, sir, what is your name sir?" "My name is Colonel (Squire Keith), of the (22nd Indiana), and pray sir, who are you?" Polk now realized the startling fact that he was behind enemy lines.
Determined to "brazen it out," Polk pretended to be a Union officer and rode down the enemy line, shouting for the Federal troops to cease fire. He then spurred his horse back to the Confederate position and ordered his men to attack. Polk said that the hundreds of muskets "blazed as one gun," and that "the slaughter of that Indiana regiment was the greatest I had ever seen in the war."
The casualties were horrific. Colonel Keith was killed, and the 22nd Indiana lost nearly seventy percent casualties (59 killed, 119 wounded, and 17 missing out of 300 soldiers). Polk's foray behind enemy lines and the volley that decimated the 22nd Indiana also ended the Battle of Perryville, for Polk refused to continue the attack.
"The Federal force had disappeared everywhere. The ground before my line was literally covered with the dead and dying."
Confederate Brigadier General St. John R. Liddell
(captions)
(lower left) Private William J. Cole, Company F, 22nd Indiana. Cole was wounded in the left side, but survived the volley from Liddell's Brigade.
(center) Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell
(upper right) Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk
(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
After capturing Union Captain Samuel Harris' artillery battery, located behind you, Confederate troops led by Brigadier General St. John r. Liddell moved to this area to support other advancing Southern units.
Night was falling, and , as Liddell's men deployed, they fired upon a "dark line" of soldiers located in the fields in front of you. Cries of "You are firing upon friends; for God's sake stop!" echoed across the field. Liddell's men ceased fire, and Confederate Major General Leonidas Polk, second-in-command at Perryville, rode forward to investigate this possible instance of friendly fire.
Polk immediately encountered the colonel of the mysterious regiment and asked the officer why he was firing upon "his friends." The Colonel replied, "I don't think there can be any mistake about it. I am sure they are the enemy." "Enemy?" Polk huffed. "Why I have only just left them myself - cease firing, sir, what is your name sir?" "My name is Colonel (Squire Keith), of the (22nd Indiana), and pray sir, who are you?" Polk now realized the startling fact that he was behind enemy lines.
Determined to "brazen it out," Polk pretended to be a Union officer and rode down the enemy line, shouting for the Federal troops to cease fire. He then spurred his horse back to the Confederate position and ordered his men to attack. Polk said that the hundreds of muskets "blazed as one gun," and that "the slaughter of that Indiana regiment was the greatest I had ever seen in the war."
The casualties were horrific. Colonel Keith was killed, and the 22nd Indiana lost nearly seventy percent casualties (59 killed, 119 wounded, and 17 missing out of 300 soldiers). Polk's foray behind enemy lines and the volley that decimated the 22nd Indiana also ended the Battle of Perryville, for Polk refused to continue the attack.
"The Federal force had disappeared everywhere. The ground before my line was literally covered with the dead and dying."
Confederate Brigadier General St. John R. Liddell
(captions)
(lower left) Private William J. Cole, Company F, 22nd Indiana. Cole was wounded in the left side, but survived the volley from Liddell's Brigade.
(center) Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell
(upper right) Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk
(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
This triple-brick Victorian-style structure, built in 1886 by Newton Sears and Milford Tanner, exemplifies small town midwestern general stores of the 1880s. In 1891, Ernest Wellman and his mother bought out Tanner's interest. The following year, Ernest married Hattie Tripp. The couple ran the general store for thirty-seven years. Under later ownership, the store was associated with the Red and White grocery chain.
The San Marco Hotel was built in 1926 by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) as part of the initial development of the City of Venice. The hotel opened in November of that year after only 90 days of construction. The hotel had a decorative ground floor lobby and space for 13 shops plus a restaurant. The upper floors had 92 residential rooms with private baths. The hotel design incorporated the Mediterranean Revival style in keeping with the master plan formulated by John Nolan for the City of Venice. Its steel and concrete construction made it the most durable building in the city.
The oldest marked grave in this public burial ground is that of an infant, Purl Ray Scott, who died in 1880. It predates the founding of the town of Sweetwater on the Texas and Pacific Railroad by one year. Handcrafted tombstones and wrought iron fences are prominent features of the graveyard. Sweetwater Cemetery contains the burial sites of pioneers, immigrants, community leaders, and Civil War veterans. It is a reminder of the hardships of pioneer life and an important reflection of the history of the community. 
Rancher and banker Thomas Trammell (1848-1919) was called the "Father of Sweetwater." He hired noted California architect John Young to design this house. Trammell, who helped bring railroads to Sweetwater, knew of Young's design work for the Santa Fe Railway. Built in 1911-13, this house reflects the Mission Revival-Prairie School style of architecture and features a unique atrium. From 1923 to 1936 the house served as the only hospital in the area. Later Trammell's daughter and her family occupied the home. 
