There, Buell reorganized his own command and bolstered his force with thousands of recruits. He then moved against a portion of Bragg’s army, which had advanced to Bardstown. When Buell’s fifty-eight thousand troops pressed these sixteen thousand Confederates, the Rebels fell back to Perryville. By October 8, three Southern divisions faced three Union corps at this small town in central Kentucky. Bragg, believing he faced only a portion of Buell’s army, decided to attack. At 2 p.m. his troops engaged those of Maj. Gen. Alexander McCook’s I Corps a few miles north of Perryville.

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General Tyler continued to lead the 15th Tennessee, which was a part of Brig. Gen. Daniel S. Donelson’s Brigade, the troops that were to open the Confederate attack by assaulting McCook’s left flank. They remained within Cheatham’s Division, in Polk’s wing of Bragg’s army. However, when the attack commenced, Donelson’s command was understrength, as two of his units had been detached for other service. Only Tyler’s 15th, the 16th, and the 38th Tennessee Regiments were available for the assault when orders were given to advance.

As Donelson’s men moved toward the Union lines, Cheatham shouted, ‘Give ‘em hell, boys!’ General Polk, who was also an Episcopal bishop, seconded Cheatham’s sentiments with a phrase befitting a member of the cloth: ‘Give it to ‘em, boys!’ the bishop-general cried out, adding, ‘Give ‘em what General Cheatham says!’

With the 38th Tennessee kept in reserve, the 15th formed the left of Donelson’s line, while the 16th held the right. Faulty Confederate intelligence quickly led to disaster. While the Rebel troops were preparing their assault, the Union army extended its left flank. Instead of enveloping the extreme Federal left flank as planned, Donelson’s Brigade marched more toward the Union center. They were out alone, stepping toward certain destruction.

As the brigade came near the Federal line, the men became caught in a crossfire. Union artillery under Captain Samuel Harris poured fire on them from the left, while another battery directed by Captain Charles C. Parsons enfiladed their right flank. Furthermore, as the troops came closer to their goal, they were struck by musket fire from the front. C.H. Clark of the 16th Tennessee recalled, ‘It looked to me like the whole face of the Earth was covered with Yankees.’

The 16th Tennessee, rushed forward by one of Cheatham’s overzealous staff officers, was drawn out in front of the brigade and took appalling casualties; nearly 60 percent of the unit fell. Donelson’s men fought there, alone, for more than half an hour. Then brigades under Brig. Gens. A.P. Stewart and George Maney came up to support them, and Donelson’s command continued their assault. Tyler’s men rejoined the 16th Tennessee, and these two regiments pushed forward toward a house and barn owned by Mary Jane Gibson, a widow. As the troops entered Gibson’s cornfield, however, heavy fire from the 2nd Ohio Infantry checked them. One member of Donelson’s command noted, ‘The battle now raged with terror and the slaughter was terrible.’

Eventually, the 15th and 16th Tennessee forced the 2nd and 33rd Ohio Infantry Regiments back past Widow Gibson’s barn, but then the Rebel attack stalled, slowed by artillery fire from Harris’s battery and muskets of the 2nd Ohio. Tyler’s regiment fell back only when the troops ran out of ammunition. Although Donelson’s decimated and exhausted brigade could not shatter the Union line, attacks made by Brig. Gens. Patrick Cleburne and A.P. Stewart shoved the Federals back in this sector of the Perryville battlefield.

Although Tyler’s regiment and the other members of Donelson’s Brigade had begun the battle unsupported, they contributed strongly to the tactical victory, driving the North from the field. It was quickly evident that the 16th Tennessee had suffered far more than Tyler’s regiment. While Tyler lost nine men killed and twenty-five wounded, the 16th incurred more than two hundred casualties. There were more than seventy-five hundred dead or wounded on both sides, including more than a quarter of the Confederates who fought there. Those fortunate enough to have been wounded and survive suffered from poor medical treatment after the battle. George W. Parks, a wounded member of Donelson’s command, placed in a stable after the battle, later wrote that he was harassed by swarms of flies and ‘was most eat up by magets.’

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