Battle of Mill Springs
Mr. Gilbert Wilson, executive director from The Mill Springs Battlefield Association presented a program about the Battle of Mill Springs. His presentation included mapping the battles using the promethium board, a display of enlarged pictures, books, and uniforms. The students enjoyed trying on and modeling uniforms from the Civil War. Mr. Wilson gave his presentation to all 5th grade Social Studies students.
The lesson included the information below;
Confederate General Felix K. Zollicoffer had guarded the Cumberland Gap against
Union attempts to get into Tennessee since the Fall of 1861. As part of his
defensive strategy he had sent about 4,000 men across the Cumberland River where
they established a fortified camp near the town of Mill Springs.
In mid-January 1862, General George B. Crittenden arrived to assume command of Zollicoffer's forces. The Rebel camp near Mill Springs was in a vulnerable position because retreat back across the river's strong currents would be extremely difficult and likely to result in disaster. Fearing the imminent arrival of Union General George B. Thomas' army, Crittenden decided to launch a preemptive assault against Thomas' forces.
On January 17, Thomas reached Logan's Cross Roads, a small hamlet consisting of only a few rough houses and a post office, ten miles north of Zollicoffer's camp. Crittenden knew he had to attack Thomas' forces before they had a chance to concentrate: A Union victory might very well mean the loss of support for the Confederacy in eastern Kentucky in addition to the eventual loss of part of Tennessee. At midnight on January 18, Crittenden ordered General Zollicoffer and another general, William H. Carroll, to attack the Union forces at Logan's Cross Roads.
The determined Rebels endured a nine-mile march sloshing through mud and driving rains. Just as the sun came up the exhausted Confederates were confronted by the Union pickets of Colonel Frank Wolford. Wolford ordered his men to fire on the Rebels and then fell back to make a defensive stand next to the 10th Indiana under Colonel Mahlon D. Manson. Colonel Manson frantically dashed through the camp of the 4th Kentucky to warn Colonel Speed S. Fry of the impending attack--to the shock and horror of the groggy Kentuckians who were just getting out of bed.
The fiery and courageous Colonel Fry led his men towards the battle. He soon viewed the Confederates advancing toward him across an open field bordered on every side by woodlands. Fry joined the battle to aid the 10th Indiana who were in a desperate fight and on the verge of defeat. A ravine running parallel to and immediately in front of the Northern positions in the open field was the source of the Union agonies. Zollicoffer had deployed his troops in the ravine before Fry's arrival. From their advantageous position the Southerners subjected Fry's men to the same murderous close-range barrage of fire that had savaged the 10th Indiana. An enraged Fry shouted to the Rebels, daring them to abandon the ravine and stand up on their feet and fight like men.
After a lull in the battle, Fry rode a short distance to the right to get a better view of the Confederate movements. Through the haze of the smoke-shrouded morning, Fry spotted a solitary figure riding toward him from the trees. Fry didn't realize it yet, but it was Confederate General Felix K. Zollicoffer! The near-sighted Zollicoffer (further hampered by the wet and smoky conditions) approached Fry, thinking he was a fellow Rebel, and warned him that his men had been firing on Southerners. Fry fled away when he saw another Rebel approaching to warn Zollicoffer that he was conferring with enemy troops! As he fled, he turned and fired his pistol. Zollicoffer fell lifeless to the ground. Soon after Fry realized to his elation that he had accomplished the rare feat of killing an enemy general. The spot where Zollicoffer was killed is today marked by the "Zollie Tree."
The students got to try on and model the Union and Confederate uniforms.
