Descendants of opposing soldiers meet at Battlefield Visitors Center

History came full circle when two men descended from opposing Civil War soldiers met completely by chance at the Battle of Richmond Visitors Center in Richmond, Kentucky. Larry Peterson, a descendant of Confederate Colonel Alfred Jefferson Vaughan Jr., ran into John Landon, a descendant of the Ritchie family, whose members served in the Union army. Standing in the center’s portrait gallery, both men pointed out their ancestors on the wall.

The Battle of Richmond, Kentucky

On August 29 and 30, 1862, Confederate forces under General Edmund Kirby Smith invaded Kentucky and met a Union army near Richmond. In a series of attacks over two days, the Confederates routed the Federals and captured more than 4,000 Union soldiers. It was one of the most complete Confederate victories of the entire war and opened the way for the Southern advance into the heart of Kentucky that fall.

Colonel Alfred J. Vaughan Jr.

Alfred Jefferson Vaughan Jr. was a Virginia-born graduate of the Virginia Military Institute who had moved to Mississippi and later Tennessee. He commanded the 13th Tennessee Infantry in many of the major battles of the Western Theater. Vaughan was promoted to brigadier general in 1863 and lost a leg to an artillery shell near Atlanta in 1864. After the war, he became a judge in Memphis and was known for his service to fellow veterans.

Two Families, One History

For Peterson and Landon, the chance meeting was a reminder that the war was not fought by faceless armies but by real families. Their ancestors may have faced each other across a Kentucky field, but more than 150 years later, their descendants could stand side by side and honor them together. Kentucky itself was a divided state, sending men to both armies, and stories like this one are common there.

Read more about soldiers of both sides in “All Were American Soldiers”, and browse our Confederate flag collection.

Source: Richmond Register: Descendants of opposing soldiers meet at Battlefield Visitors Center

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