You can learn the story of a rural Kentucky doctor who saved souls and also saved soldiers after the bloody Battle of Perryville

Bryan Bush at the Polk home (Kentucky State Parks)

At age 60, Dr. Jefferson Johnson Polk had all but retired, after having treated thousands of patients and delivering more than 800 babies in his hometown of Perryville, Ky., and surrounding communities. He concentrated on saving souls as a preacher.

But when the Civil War arrived in Perryville in October 1862, Polk joined other military and civilian physicians who rushed to save the wounded after the battle left 7,600 casualties and a strategic Union victory.

The role of Polk, a staunch unionist, in the clash’s aftermath will be presented Saturday (Jan. 25) at Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site by park manager Bryan Bush, who has experience in portraying historical figures. Other dates for the presentation are Feb. 15, March 14 and April 11. Perryville is 45 miles southwest of Lexington.

“Besides his medical practice, Polk was also a traveling minister, newspaper publisher, temperance lecturer and abolitionist,” says a press release about the talks. “His account of the aftermath of the Battle of Perryville is one of the more vivid and horrifying descriptions of the destruction resulting from a major battle during the Civil War.”

Dr. J.J. Polk

Polk and his son, William Tod Polk, also a doctor, treated the wounded at makeshift hospitals and the elder Polk’s home and office in Perryville. The two structures survive and are part of the town’s Merchants Row, a collection of buildings that are more than 170 years old. Many are occupied today by businesses catering to tourists and residents.

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Dr. J.J. Polk documented some of what he saw in his autobiography.

“The first hospital I entered was Mr. Peters’ house. Here were about two hundred wounded soldiers, lying side by side on beds of straw. Notwithstanding they were wounded in every possible way, there was not heard among them a groan or complaint. In the orchard close by a long trench had been dug, in which to bury the dead; about fifteen were lying in a row, ready for interment.”

According to one history, Polk treated the wounded in a barn at the Goodnight property, where the farmer played a fiddle and gave the wounded whiskey to dull their pain. The musical group Granville Automatic recorded the song “Goodnight House” a few years ago about the scene.

The doctor wrote other vivid passages about what he encountered.

“I noticed at one spot six dead horses, the entire team of a rebel cannon. Turning my steps south toward Perryville, I saw dead rebels piled up in pens like hogs. I reached my home, praying to God that I might never again be called upon to visit a battlefield.”

The Polk home is part of Merchants Row, below (Courtesy of  Main Street Perryville)

Polk, a Presbyterian, moved to Perryville, then a bustling farm community in southwest Kentucky, about 20 years before the Civil War began. The community had mixed sympathies at the time of Fort Sumter.

The doctor is believed to also have treated soldiers at his home and tiny office about 25 feet away, says Vicki T. Goode, executive director of Main Street Perryville, which leases the Merchants Row buildings from the town and promotes preservation and economic growth in the small downtown district.

Wounded soldiers, mostly Union, were cared for at nearby homes, she told the Picket. “Some of them were there for a year following the battle.”

Dr. Polk's office in 2007 (Courtesy of Main Street Perryville)

Polk treated and befriended a captured Confederate officer from Prussia – Karl Langenbecker – who eventually helped treat others but died two months after the battle. “He is buried in Dr. Polk’s plot with a very nice headstone right next to Dr. Polk’s monument,” says Goode. Polk died at age 79 in 1881.

The Polk home and office are not currently being used. Some of his effects are in the 10-feet by 14-feet office, which needs restoration.

The office interior

Main Street Perryville has also maintained the home, including performing structural repair of the foundation, installing a new roof and making window repairs. The “mothballed” home is in good shape but still needs an interior restoration, Goode said. 

A postwar addition on the back of the home deteriorated and was removed.

Main Street Perryville has helped restore some of the old structures downtown and Goode says new businesses catering to businesses are set to open.

The one-person interpretations of Dr. Polk are on Jan. 25, Feb. 15, March 14 and April 11 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $4 for adults and $3 for children ages 12 and under. The state historic site is near the town of Perryville.