(Photo Provided) Historian and battlefield guide Darryl Smith will present “The Battle of Perryville and The Kentucky Campaign” at the next regular meeting of the Civil War Round Table of the Mid-Ohio Valley at 7 p.m. March 20 at the Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History in Parkersburg.

PARKERSBURG — The next regular meeting of the Civil War Round Table of the Mid-Ohio Valley will be 7 p.m. March 20 at the Blennerhassett Museum of Regional History, 137 Juliana St., Parkersburg.

The presentation will be “The Battle of Perryville and The Kentucky Campaign,” presented by historian and battlefield guide Darryl Smith

The Confederate Heartland Offensive from Aug. 14 to Oct. 10, 1862, also widely recognized as the Kentucky Campaign, was a series of offensive maneuvers conducted by the Confederate States Army in Tennessee and Kentucky.

CSA troops, commanded by Generals Braxton Bragg and Edmund Kirby Smith, tried to force neutral Kentucky into the Confederacy by outflanking Union troops under the command of Major General Don Carlos Buell. Although they scored some limited successes, notably a tactical victory at the Battle of Perryville, they were soon thereafter forced to retreat from the Commonwealth leaving Kentucky under President Abraham Lincoln’s and Union control for the balance of the war.

Smith is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he earned a B.A. in American History. He is a devoted Civil War and American military history enthusiast and an entrepreneur who owns and operates Walking with History LLC, a firm that provides interpretation and guide services for the Perryville State Historical Site as well as John Hunt Morgan raid sites at Cynthiana and Augustana, Kentucky.

(Photo Provided) Major General Don Carlos Buell was born on Buell Island at Lowell on March 23, 1818. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1841 and commanded Federal forces at the Battle of Perryville. His service is recognized by a historical marker dedicated by the Civil War Round Table on Buell Island in 2017.

He currently serves as a Board Member of the Buffington Island Battlefield Preservation Association and is a member and past Activities Committee Chairperson of the Cincinnati Civil War Round Table. He is also an avid hiker and backpacker and founder of the Miami Rivers Chapter of the Buckeye Trail Association. He lives in Cincinnati with his wife, Jennifer, and has always believed that the most effective way to understand history is to walk the ground where history took place.

As always, the public is welcomed and there is no cost to attend. Small donations will be accepted to defray a portion of the cost of the event. This presentation is made possible by a matching grant from the Ohio Arts Council.

The round table and Ohio Arts Council are committed to engaging diverse audiences and providing accessibility for those with disabilities. The meeting venue is handicapped accessible. Accommodation for other disabilities will be considered upon request.

Please contact cwrtmor@gmail.com or 740-525-7470 for more information.