Purdue's Army ROTC to revisit Civil War battlefield

The students will travel to Perryville, Ky., on Saturday (Feb. 18) to study a Civil War battlefield as a part of their 400-level military science and leadership course.

"The seniors will conduct a battlefield staff ride, which is a systematic examination of a battle while on the actual terrain," said Lt. Col. Dan Carpenter, the head of the university's Army ROTC program. "We hope the students are able to learn from the Oct. 8, 1862, battle, which pitted troops from the Confederate Army of the Mississippi under Maj. Gen. Braxton Bragg against troops from the Union Army of the Ohio lead by Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell."

The battle was a critical point in the Civil War because the Confederate invasion of Kentucky was blunted, and Kentucky was preserved as a Union state, Carpenter said.

Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu

Source: Dan Carpenter, (765) 494-2099, dwcarpen@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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