Battle of Mill Springs honors soldiers who lost their lives 162 years ago

Jan. 29—On Friday the halls of the Mill Springs Battlefield Museum were lit in the eerie glow of candles — luminaria that honored those who lost their lives at the local Civil War battle.

As important the battle is to local historians, it is also considered one of those that caused major waves in how the rest of the Civil War played out. That's why Friday's Luminaria ceremony featured not only the "how" of the battle, but the consequences from and how they played out.

The history lesson and ceremony took place one week after the 162nd anniversary of the battle — January 19 — thanks to a large snowstorm that made travel dangerous for many around the region. But despite the delay, a sizable crowd turned out to learn more about the Battle of Mill Springs.

Mill Springs Park Superintendent Dawn Davis seemed please with that turnout, calling it "wonderful" in her opening remarks for the ceremony.

Davis noted the battle "was a defining moment in our nation's history. And the National Parks Service is honored to carry the torch that so many of you here — and those even before you — have carried in preserving these hallowed grounds."

She told the crowd that on that cold January day in 1862, Confederate forces had a vision for how to obtain and create a stronghold for the South, and with determination they entered the area in order to realize their goal.

The U.S. Union forces likewise had the determination to stop the Confederate Army. "The U.S. victory that resulted here is considered the first major victory in the American Civil War in the western theater of the war," Davis said.

It was left to Andrew Miller, chief of interpretation at Mill Springs, to relate the story of how the battle came to be, starting with the election of Kentucky native Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

Lincoln's election stirred up unrest within the southern states, who felt the new president might be in favor of dismantling the slave-holding system their farmsteads were based on. Several of those southern states seceded, while those in the north declared their allegiance to preserving the United States.

Kentucky, however, was left squarely in the middle. Commonwealth officials declared Kentucky's neutrality, but families within the state began choosing sides.

Kentucky's position as being connected to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers also made it a strategic position — not to mention the southeastern Cumberland River being eyed as an important waterway for delivering troops and supplies from the south.

Troops from the South, therefore, ignored the concept of Kentucky's neutrality and crossed the boarders into western Kentucky. That move was quickly answered by Union forces moving in and, in the end, Kentucky lawmakers responded by demanding the withdrawal of the Confederate Army only, firmly planting Kentucky on the side of the Union.

On that night, Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer marched his soldiers from eastern Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap, and the troops eventually made their way to the western Pulaski area of the Cumberland River in January of 1861.

Those who have studied the Mill Springs conflict know the basics. Union soldiers turned up to hold off Zollicoffer's men, and smaller skirmishes eventually led to a full-blown battle on the morning of January 19.

The weather was cold and rainy, causing a real-life fog that led to a "fog of war" scenario. When Zollicoffer became aware that his broken lines meant the Confederates could be firing on their own people, he rode forward to speak with someone to determine which side they were on.

Zollicoffer unknowingly rode up to Union leader Colonel Speed Frye. Frye himself didn't know he was speaking to Zollicoffer until one of Zollicoffer's men rode in and yelled, informing him of his mistake.

Frye, realizing who Zollicoffer was, shot and killed Zollicoffer — a move that demoralized the Confederate side and led to the eventual win for the Union in that battle.

More than 200 Confederates lost their lives in that battle, while Union deaths sat at around 40.

While Davis noted that these were not the numbers that would be seen months later at the larger, more well known battlefields in which thousands of lives would be lost at once, the battle still is considered one of the most important in the war's first few months.

Jeff Fugate, Lt. Commander of the Kentucky Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans was on hand to pay tribute to what those fallen soldiers meant to the South.

"As we honor these sacrifices that were made here 162 years ago, let us remember that as both sides fought for what they believed in, that their sacrifices were not in vain, as we pay tribute to them today. And may we never ignore history and always remember," Fugate said.

Fugate also quoted part of the inscription from the marker that adorns Mill Spring's burial mound — the mass grave where those Confederate soldiers were laid to rest.

"We know not who they were, but the whole world knows what they were," Fugate read. "These died far from their homes, but they fill heroes' graves. And glory keeps ceaseless watch about their tomb."

John Buckler, Junior Vice Commander for the Kentucky Division of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War noted that their history and that of the Sons of Confederate Veterans are intertwined. In too many cases, members of one family would go to war for the opposite side, famously pitting brother against brother, "or in the case of one of my own ancestors, father against sons," Buckler said.

Buckler explained that the Sons of Veterans Reserves is the uniform branch of his organization, and that branch renders military honors "primarily to veterans of the Civil War, but to soldiers of all services and conflicts wherever needed and wherever possible."

Both groups volunteer time to find documentation and physical locations of Civil War soldiers' gravesites, often cleaning headstones, cleaning neglected cemeteries and obtaining headstones for those who don't have them.

Volunteers also participate in many ceremonies such as Mill Springs', in order to educate the public about their country's history.

"It also allows us to honor these soldiers who survived and made it home to live peaceful lives as productive patriotic citizens," he said.

Carla Slavey can be reached at cslavey@somerset-kentucky.com