Richmond, Ky. Battle Park
RICHMOND, Ky. — The Texas Historical Commission will dedicate a state monument in Madison County’s Battlefield Park on Saturday, May 23. The Commission, along with the Madison County Historic Properties Division, the Battle of Richmond Association and the Friends of the Richmond Battlefield will host the unveiling ceremony at 11 a.m. According to Phillip Seyfrit, Madison County Historic Properties Director, the 8-foot sunset-red granite monument will feature the Texas state seal and will list the Texas units involved in the August 1862 battle The privately funded monument will also recount the role Texans played “in what is likely the most complete Confederate victory of the Civil War.” Seyfrit said, “Texas troops played a decisive role in Churchill’s Draw, the flanking maneuver that surprised Federal forces and turned the tide of the battle’s first stage. Texas units also attacked Federal forces along Duncannon Lane and in the Richmond Cemetery, helping to rout the entire Federal command.” The monument will stand near a paved pathway in Richmond Battlefield Park, overlooking the Churchill’s Draw ravine from which the Confederate troops emerged to charge the weakened Federal right, causing the entire Federal line to fall back in disorder. An interpretive marker highlighting Confederate Brig. Gen. Thomas Churchill, later governor of Arkansas, stands near the site. “Because Texas troops figured so prominently in the Battle of Richmond, it is fitting that Texas be the first state outside Kentucky to erect a monument to its troops here,” said Seyfrit. The county is negotiating with other states to raise appropriate memorials commemorating their troops. The only other Texas Civil War monument in Kentucky was dedicated last December just outside Munfordville, commemorating the late 1861 Battle of Rowlette’s Station. The dedication ceremony will conclude the Battle of Richmond Association’s Annual Living History Days for 5th-grade students from Madison and surrounding counties. Nearly 500 children will attend the annual two-day event to learn about and experience military and civilian life with the help of reenactors. A light reception at the Pleasant View House in Battlefield Park will follow the dedication services. For more information, call Seyfrit’s office at (859) 624-0013.
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