Pushing Confederates Out Of Kentucky

The Battle of Mill Springs, near Nancy Kentucky was fought on January 19th 1862, it was the second largest battle fought in Kentucky.

Confederate Brigadier General Felix K Zollicoffer had advanced into Kentucky and set a strong defensive position at Mill Springs. He made this his winter camp, fortifying both sides of the Cumberland River. Union Brigadier General George Henry Thomas was ordered to push the Confederates out of the area. Knowing that the Union troops were in the area, the Confederates decided to go on the defencive and attack.

At dawn on January 19th 1862 the Confederates attacked Thomas’s Union soldiers at Logan’s Crossroads. However the Union force had received reinforcements, causing the Rebel troops to have to retreat. During the resistance Zollicoffer was killed. The Confederates tried again, but a counterattack by the Union troops on the left and right flanks of the Confederate soldiers brook them. The Confederates retreated to Murfreesboro Tennessee, ending their hold in Kentucky