William Michael Wilson

History of the 11th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry - Union Army William Michael Wilson

One of the first groups of men to answer the call to arms in Kentucky at the onset of the Civil War was the 11th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The regiment's organizer was Bowling Green's Colonel Pierce Butler Hawkins. He formed the organization from the Green River counties of Warren, Muhlenberg, Butler, and Edmonson. Together with Lt. Colonel Love and Major E. H. Mottley, Hawkins led the regiment in nearly all of the Western engagements, including the campaigns in northern Alabama and middle Tennessee, the battles of Shiloh, Stone' s River, Perryville, and Atlanta, and the siege of Knoxville. Follow one of the enlisted men, Lee Cowles, who was born on the 4th of July and who found himself in some unexpected places during the War. The regiment suffered a total of 264 casualties; 2 officers and 45 enlisted men were killed in battle; disease claimed 3 officers and 214 enlisted men. The book includes a large section including information culled from service records, maps, biographies and original soldier letters.