Staff Ride Handbook For The Battle Of Perryville, 8 October 1862

The staff ride remains an important tool for teaching military history and promoting leadership development. It links historical events with the actual ground upon which they occurred, providing an emotional as well as intellectual experience. The staff ride thus offers a vehicle for analyzing the human experience of combat. From this analysis emerge insights that are applicable to modern battle command. Technology and doctrine change over time, but the human dimension provides a connection between past and present. By concentrating on the actual ground upon which armies fought, the staff ride combines the formal study of the schoolhouse environment with the more visceral experience of the battlefield. By merging the analysis of command, doctrine, and weaponry with the terrain on which they were employed, the staff ride immerses students in the dynamics of combat. This handbook serves to facilitate military staff rides to Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site in Kentucky. It is a tool to assist in applying the U.S. Army's staff ride methodology to this battlefield. It provides a means of interpreting and understanding the battle of Perryville. In particular, the handbook assists small-group instructors in organizing and conducting a staff ride that focuses on relevant training objectives. The handbook is modeled on the series of staff ride guides developed by the Combat Studies Institute (CSI), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It includes information concerning the nature of Civil War armies, the 1862 Kentucky campaign, maps, and more specialized material detailing the Armies of the Ohio and the Mississippi. A variety of instructional information helps readers to understand the flow of the battle; its participants; and related doctrinal, materiel, command, and organizational issues. The heart of the guide is chapter 3, which outlines a recommended route through the park based on the sequence of actual battle events.