Confederate Mass Grave Monument in Somerset | |
Location | Pulaski County, Kentucky |
---|---|
Nearest city | Nancy, Kentucky |
Built | 1910 |
MPS | Civil War Monuments of Kentucky MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 97000671 [1] |
Added to NRHP | July 17, 1997 |
The Confederate Mass Grave Monument in Somerset in Pulaski County, Kentucky, near Nancy, Kentucky, honors the Confederate soldiers who are buried here who died at the Battle of Mill Springs. These soldiers were from Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and number over one hundred in total. [2] [3]
The monument was built in 1910 by Bennett H. Young, who during the war rode with Confederate general John Hunt Morgan. Young was drawn to the area due to hearing about the nearby Zollie Tree, which was decorated by a local woman each Memorial Day in honor of general Felix K. Zollicoffer, who died at the Battle of Mill Springs. The monument uses the name "Battle of Fishing Creek", as the battle was known by Southerners in 1910. The rectangular slab of limestone is 4 feet (1.2 m) by 3 feet (0.91 m), and rest on a 1 foot (0.30 m) high slab of concrete. [2]
The Zollie Tree, for which both the Confederate Mass Grave Monument and the nearby General Felix K. Zollicoffer Monument was constructed, was destroyed by lightning in 1995, although a sapling from it was later planted at the same spot. Both are now in what is called Zollicoffer Park, part of the larger Mill Springs Battlefield. [4]
On July 17, 1997, the Confederate Mass Grave Monument in Somerset was one of sixty-one different monuments related to the Civil War in Kentucky placed on the National Register of Historic Places, as part of the Civil War Monuments of Kentucky Multiple Property Submission. The aforementioned General Felix K. Zollicoffer Monument only a few feet away is another of the so-honored monuments. The other monument on the list in Pulaski County is the Battle of Dutton's Hill Monument north of Somerset, Kentucky. [2] [5] [6]
The Battle of Mill Springs, also known as the Battle of Fishing Creek in the Confederacy, and the Battle of Logan's Cross Roads or Battle of Somerset in the Union, was fought in Wayne and Pulaski counties, near current Nancy, Kentucky, on January 19, 1862, as part of the American Civil War. The Union victory concluded an early Confederate offensive campaign in south central Kentucky.
Felix Kirk Zollicoffer was an American newspaperman, slave owner, politician, and soldier. A three-term United States Congressman from Tennessee, an officer in the United States Army, and a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War; he led the first Confederate invasion of eastern Kentucky and was killed in action at the Battle of Mill Springs. Zollicoffer was the first Confederate general to die in the Western Theater.
Mill Springs National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the town of Nancy, eight miles (13 km) west of the city of Somerset in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 6.3 acres (2.5 ha), and as of 2014, has over 4,000 interments.
The Confederate Monument in Cynthiana is located on the outer edge of Cynthiana, Kentucky in Battle Grove Cemetery. It was the first monument to the Confederate States of America dedicated in the State of Kentucky, and long believed to be the first Confederate memorial anywhere. Due to the 32nd Indiana Monument having been moved from its original location, the Cynthiana monument is the oldest Civil War monument still standing at its original location, where the second Battle of Cynthiana started, in the then-new town cemetery.
The Confederate Monument in Harrodsburg, located at the entrance to Spring Hill Cemetery in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, is a statue listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It depicts a life-sized older Confederate cavalryman standing ready.
The Battle of Tebb's Bend Monument in Taylor County, Kentucky, near Campbellsville, Kentucky, commemorates the Battle of Tebbs Bend, which occurred on July 4, 1863, during the Civil War. The battle was essentially a Union victory, as it greatly delayed John Hunt Morgan's famous Raid that would later go into Indiana and Ohio.
The Confederate Monument in Danville, originally located between Centre College and the First Presbyterian Church at the corner of Main and College Streets in Danville, Kentucky, was a monument dedicated to the Confederate States of America that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The monument was dedicated in 1910 by the surviving veterans of the Confederacy of Boyle County, Kentucky and the Kate Morrison Breckinridge Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). In 2021, it was relocated to a museum in Meade County, Kentucky.
The Latham Confederate Monument in Hopkinsville, Kentucky's Riverside Cemetery, is a monument on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Unknown Confederate Dead Monument in Perryville is located in the vicinity of Perryville, in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States, in the Goodknight Cemetery, a small family cemetery on private land. It is presumed to have been constructed around the year 1928, sixty-six years after the Battle of Perryville on October 8, 1862, in which the Confederate soldiers buried here anonymously died. In total, 532 Confederates died at the battle, but it is unknown how many of this number are buried here.
The Confederate Monument in Perryville is a historic monument located by the visitor center of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, in the vicinity of Perryville, Kentucky, in Boyle County, Kentucky, USA. It was built in 1902, forty years after the Battle of Perryville, the bloodiest battle in Kentucky history, on October 8, 1862. In total, 532 Confederates died at the battle, but it is unknown how many of this number are buried here. A small cemetery is by the monument; local farmers had to bury the Confederate dead as the Confederate Army, despite a tactical victory, had to leave Perryville quickly, and hogs were beginning to feast on the soldiers' remains.
The Union Monument in Perryville is an historic monument located by the visitor center of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, in the vicinity of Perryville, Kentucky, in Boyle County, Kentucky. It was built in 1928, sixty-six years after the Battle of Perryville, the bloodiest battle in Kentucky history, on October 8, 1862. There were 16,000 Union soldiers at the Battle of Perryville, with 4,276 combined killed, captured, wounded, and missing.
The Lloyd Tilghman Memorial is a statue located in Paducah Kentucky, of Lloyd Tilghman, a brigadier general for the Confederate States of America who died at the Battle of Champion Hill in May 1863.
The Confederate Memorial Gates in Mayfield are historical monuments at the entrances to Maplewood Cemetery in Mayfield, Kentucky. The monuments were the second monument in Mayfield established by the United Daughters of the Confederacy; the first being the Confederate Memorial in Mayfield in downtown Mayfield. The gates were the third choice for monuments, chosen mostly due to their relatively low cost. The UDC intended them to not only be a monument to the residents of Graves County who served the Confederate States of America, but also a civic improvement.
The Confederate Memorial in Mayfield is a commemorative monument and fountain located on the courthouse lawn in downtown Mayfield, Kentucky.
The Confederate Monument in Bracken County, Kentucky, in Augusta, Kentucky, honors eight unknown Confederate soldiers who were killed attacking Augusta in September 1862. Confederate Colonel Basil W. Duke led a force of Confederate soldiers to raid the town, on September 27, 1862, only to be driven back by a home guard force numbering 100 and backed up by gunboats. Eight Confederate soldiers of the 21 who died were buried in Payne Cemetery. In 1903 the present monument was placed at their burial spot.
The Battle of Dutton's Hill Monument in Pulaski County, Kentucky, near Somerset, Kentucky, commemorates the Confederate soldiers who died at the battle of Dutton's Hill in 1863.
The General Felix K. Zollicoffer Monument in Pulaski County, Kentucky, near Nancy, Kentucky, commemorates the death of Confederate Gen. Felix K. Zollicoffer, who died here at the Battle of Mill Springs. A native of nearby Tennessee, he fought for the Confederacy. Zollicoffer was killed due to not realizing he was approaching Union lines instead of the Confederate line.
The Civil War Trust's Civil War Discovery Trail is a heritage tourism program that links more than 600 U.S. Civil War sites in more than 30 states. The program is one of the White House Millennium Council's sixteen flagship National Millennium Trails. Sites on the trail include battlefields, museums, historic sites, forts and cemeteries.
The Battle of Camp Wildcat was one of the early engagements of the American Civil War. It occurred October 21, 1861, in northern Laurel County, Kentucky during the campaign known as the Kentucky Confederate Offensive or Operations in Eastern Kentucky (1861). The battle is considered one of the first Union victories of the Civil War, and marked the second engagement of troops in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument was the location of the Battle of Mill Springs in January 1862. It was declared to be a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1993 and authorized as a national monument in 2019. After acquisition of property by the National Park Service it was established as a unit on September 22, 2020.