Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument | |
Location | Pulaski / Wayne counties, Kentucky, USA |
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Nearest city | Somerset, Kentucky |
Coordinates | 37°04′08″N84°44′10″W / 37.06889°N 84.73611°W |
Area | 1,459.19 acres (5.9051 km2) |
NRHP reference No. | 93000001 [1] |
Added to NRHP | February 18, 1993 |
The Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument was the location of the Battle of Mill Springs (also known as Battle of Fishing Creek and as Battle of Logan's Crossroads) 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. [2]
Several separated areas related to the battle have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Confederate Mass Grave Monument in Somerset, Gen. Felix K. Zollicoffer Monument, West-Metcalfe House, and the Mill Springs National Cemetery.
The initial designated area for the National Register of Historic Places included three separate areas: the battlefield, and two separate areas with Confederate fortifications on each side of Lake Cumberland (one near Mill Springs, and the other by Beech Grove). The three separate areas amounted to 647.3 acres (2.620 km2) of land, most of which is in Pulaski County, Kentucky (the battlefield), with the rest in Wayne County, Kentucky. [3] The main difference in the land from 1862 to the modern day is that the landscape is less wooded. Also the name of the town during the battle was Logan's Crossing, when today it is called Nancy. There are no buildings left that were standing during the war, although none of the modern buildings seriously detracted from the area's National Register status. Two of the 29 noncontributing structures on the battlefield during the nomination were later placed on the National Register; both were monuments placed on the battlefield in 1910. [4]
The American Battlefield Trust and its partners have preserved 769 acres of the Mill Springs Battlefield in 20 transactions from 1993 through mid-2023. [5]
The Mill Springs Battlefield Visitors Center and Museum commemorates the January 1862 Battle of Mill Springs, fought during the early days of the American Civil War. The museum is located in Nancy, Kentucky, just past the northern edge of the battlefield, overlooking where Union forces camped. It is adjacent to the Mill Springs National Cemetery, which contains the Federal interments (the Confederate burials are at Zollicoffer Park, a short distance away, on the battlefield proper). The museum was formally dedicated on November 4, 2006.
Operated by the Mill Springs Battlefield Association, the museum consists of a central foyer where greeters welcome guests and direct them to the various parts of the museum, which consists of a community room, library, legacy room, and exhibition hall, as well as a gift shop. There is also a high-security space for traveling exhibits. The Brown-Lanier House, used as a headquarters during the battle, is also owned by the Battlefield Association. It is maintained as a bed and breakfast.
On January 15, 2013, Kentucky Representative Hal Rogers introduced the bill H.R. 298, officially titled "To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to evaluate the significance of the Mill Springs Battlefield located in Pulaski and Wayne Counties, Kentucky, and the feasibility of its inclusion in the National Park System, and for other purposes," into the United States Congress. [6] [7] Rogers said that "the Battle of Mill Springs is a source of great pride and interest to the people I serve." Rogers argued that the battlefield was a "jewel" and would be "an excellent addition to the National Park Service." [8] The bill passed the House by voice vote but did not pass the Senate. [6]
The Department of the Interior, in a statement given at a subcommittee hearing, said that it "supports" the enactment, but believes that "priority should be given to the 28 previously authorized studies for potential units of the National Park System, potential new National Heritage Areas, and potential additions to the National Trails System and National Wild and Scenic Rivers System that have not yet been transmitted to the Congress." [9]
The John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law March 12, 2019, authorized it as a national monument, established upon acquisition of property by the National Park Service. [10]
Zollicoffer Park features two separate monuments that are on the National Register of Historic Places. These are the General Felix K. Zollicoffer Monument just inside the park, and the Confederate Mass Grave Monument in Somerset which is further into the park. Both were built due to a local girl by the name of Dorotha Burton decorating a white oak tree in Confederate general Felix K. Zollicoffer's honor, who had died in the battle after failing to realize he was close to the Union lines; he thought he was close to his Confederate lines. In 1995 the tree was destroyed during a lightning storm, but a sapling from that tree was put in its place in 1997, and is also called the Zollie tree. [11] [12]
Wayne County is a county in the U.S. state of Kentucky along the southern border with Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,555. Its county seat is Monticello. The county, on the south-central border with Tennessee, was named for Gen. Anthony Wayne, a Revolutionary War hero. As of November 3, 2020, Wayne County is a wet county—a measure allowing the sales and consumption of alcoholic drinks passed by a margin of 4,901 for and 3,966 against.
Harold Dallas Rogers is an American lawyer and politician serving his 22nd term as the U.S. representative for Kentucky's 5th congressional district, having served since 1981. He is a member of the Republican Party. Upon Don Young's death in 2022, Rogers became the dean of the House of Representatives.
Poison Springs Battleground State Park is an Arkansas state park located southeast of Bluff City. It commemorates the Battle of Poison Spring in the American Civil War, which was part of the 1864 Camden Expedition, an element of a Union Army initiative to gain control of Shreveport, Louisiana and get a foothold in Texas.
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.
Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park is a park located near Mount Olivet, Kentucky in Robertson and Nicholas counties. The park encompasses 148 acres (60 ha) and features a monument commemorating the August 19, 1782 Battle of Blue Licks. The battle was regarded as the final battle of the American Revolutionary War.
Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site is a 745-acre (3.01 km2) park near Perryville, Kentucky. The park continues to expand with purchases of parcels by the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves' Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund and the American Battlefield Trust. An interpretive museum is located near the site where many Confederate soldiers killed in the Battle of Perryville were buried. Monuments, interpretive signage, and cannons also mark notable events during the battle. The site became part of the Kentucky State Park System in 1936.
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 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 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 River Raisin National Battlefield Park preserves the site of the Battle of Frenchtown as the only national battlefield marking a site of the War of 1812. It was established as the 393rd unit of the United States National Park Service under Title VII of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, which was signed into law on March 30, 2009. The park is located in the city of Monroe in Monroe County, Michigan. It was designated as a Michigan Historic Site on February 18, 1956 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 10, 1982. The house at 1403 East Elm Avenue was added to the National Register listing in 2019. It officially began operation as a national park unit on October 22, 2010.
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 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.
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 West-Metcalfe House, in Wayne County, Kentucky, about 1.75 miles (2.82 km) south of Mill Springs on the Cumberland River, was built in 1800. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
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