The Battle of Perryville (also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills) is 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 American Civil War.

Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi initially wins a tactical victory against primarily a single corps of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Union Army of the Ohio.

The battle is considered a strategic Union victory, sometimes called the Battle for Kentucky, since Bragg withdraws to Tennessee soon thereafter.

The Union retains control of the critical border state of Kentucky for the remainder of the war.

On October 7, Buell's army, in pursuit of Bragg, converges on the small crossroads town of Perryville in three columns.

Union forces first skirmish with Confederate cavalry on the Springfield Pike before the fighting becomes more general, on Peters Hill, when the Confederate infantry arrives.

Both sides are desperate to get access to fresh water.

The next day, at dawn, fighting begins again around Peters Hill as a Union division advances up the pike, halting just before the Confederate line.

After noon, a Confederate division strikes the Union left flank—the I Corps of Maj. Gen. Alexander M. McCook—and forces it to fall back.

When more Confederate divisions join the fray, the Union line makes a stubborn stand, counterattacks, but finally falls back with some units routed.

Buell, several miles behind the action, is unaware that a major battle is taking place and does not send any reserves to the front until late in the afternoon.

The Union troops on the left flank, reinforced by two brigades, stabilizes their line, and the Confederate attack sputters to a halt.

Later, three Confederate regiments assault the Union division on the Springfield Pike but are repulsed and fall back into Perryville.

Union troops pursue, and skirmishing occurs in the streets until dark.

By this time, Union reinforcements are threatening the Confederate left flank.

Bragg, short of men and supplies, withdraws during the night, and continues the Confederate retreat by way of Cumberland Gap into East Tennessee.

Considering the casualties relative to the engaged strengths of the armies, the Battle of Perryville wis one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War

It is the largest battle fought in the state of Kentucky.