19th Tennessee Infantry - Mill Springs

Mill Springs

With the local rebellion under control, Zollicoffer's forces, including the 19th Tennessee, returned to Kentucky in late November to establish winter camp near the tiny hamlet of Mill Springs on the south bank of the Cumberland River. The Union's Army of the Ohio responded by sending a brigade under the command of General Albin F. Schoepf to nearby Somerset to prevent Zollicoffer from crossing the river and advancing into Central Kentucky. Zollicoffer committed a potentially grave tactical error by crossing the Cumberland and established a fortified position on the north bank at Beech Grove—he had a numerically superior force on his front, and a flood-prone river to his rear. Camp Beech Grove appeared quite formidable with the river guarding its flanks, and breastworks and chevaux de frise protecting its front, but the appearance was deceiving. The entrenchments could not dispel a determined attack, and disease was continuing to deplete the brigade's manpower.

By the middle of December, President Jefferson Davis replaced Zollicoffer as commander of the Department of East Tennessee, though he remained in command of his brigade, with Maj. Gen. George B. Crittenden, but it would be almost a month before Crittenden arrived. By the time he took command in January, the river was flooded and the brigade was backed into a tactical corner if the Yankees attacked. Before arriving, Crittenden had ordered Zollicoffer to move to the south bank, but he continued to hold his position.

Union reinforcements were on their way into the area and so Crittenden, having been reinforced as well, chose to attack them before the two groups could unite. His troops set out at about 11:30 P.M. on January 19, 1862, marching through mud sometimes over a foot deep. Zollicoffer's brigade led the advance out of the entrenchments intending to attack at dawn, but bad weather and muddy roads slowed their advance. They encountered Union pickets about 6:00 A.M. and the element of surprise was lost.

The 19th Tennessee and 15th Mississippi engaged the Federal pickets in a running skirmish for a quarter of a mile. Zollicoffer's brigade reformed and pressed the attack, but the Federals had reinforced as well and the firing became more intense. The 19th and 25th Tennessee charged the Yankees and drove them back into the woods, but the attack faltered as confusion and chaos set in from limited visibility due to the rain, fog, smoke, thunder, and lightning. Nearsighted Zollicoffer became convinced that the 19th Tennessee was firing on the 15th Mississippi and, attempting to stop what he thought was friendly fire, rode toward the Union army. He realized his mistake too late when an aide began firing his pistol at the Yankees, but Zollicoffer was killed in a hail of fire before he could escape. The 19th had begun to break ranks to follow him, but fell back in confusion after he was killed.

Crittenden placed Colonel Cummings of the 19th Tennessee in command of Zollicoffer's brigade, and he attempted to correct his battle lines, but artillery support was ineffective, and the infantry's assortment of inferior rifles, including many flintlock muskets and country rifles that were misfiring in the rain and dampness, were no match for the Federals' superior .58 caliber, percussion cap Enfields. At 9:00 A.M., the Federals fixed bayonets and charged, and the Confederate lines broke. In the retreat, the 19th's surgeon, Joseph Dulaney, refused to leave the wounded and was captured, but later released.

The cold and exhausted Confederates retreated to Camp Beech Grove to dry off and prepare a meal, but the order to abandon the camp soon came. As Federal and Confederate cannons exchanged fire through the night; the troops were ferried across the river by a steamboat named the Noble Ellis. Some soldiers tried to swim and were drowned or swept away. After all the troops were on the south bank, Crittenden ordered the boat burned to prevent the Federals from following. The Confederates had to abandon their stores and had few provisions for the retreat. The troops were finally resupplied after reaching Gainesville on January 26. Two weeks later, they moved to Camp Fogg near Carthage, then to Murfreesboro, where the brigades joined with Albert Sidney Johnston's army.