The week ahead in the Civil War: January 15 - 21, 1862

The Associated Press reports that 150 years ago this week, the Union Navy sent the USS Hatteras to Cedar Keys, FL.  The Hatteras destroyed seven cotton-laden ships suspected of blockade running.

According to the AP, heavy firing was heard for miles all as the raid opened. Troops went ashore and destroyed the railroad depot at the western terminus of the Florida Railroad and damaged the telegraph office and other buildings.

"It is gratifying to learn through a rebel source that we have captured Cedar Keys," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported at the time.

The AP added that "the raid effectively shut off a key supply source for Confederate shipbuilders."

The report continues:

With those areas coming under Union control or dominance, the newspaper boasts, "There is not much left of the state of Florida worth having." The USS Hatteras would go on to sink several suspected blockade runners in the Gulf before being sunk itself by a Confederate attack off the Texas coast later in the war.

In other naval action, the Confederate blockade runner Emma was captured by the USS Connecticut in the Florida Keys on January 17.

The same day, the USS Kearsarge was ordered to sail to European waters to find and destroy the CSS Sumter.  The very next day, the Sumpter captured and burned the Neapolitan off the coast of Gibraltar, Spain.

Battle of Mill Springs, 19 January 1862

The Battle of Mill Springs - also known as the Battle of Fishing Creek and the Battle of Logan's Crossroads - was fought near present day Nancy, Kentucky.

Although significantly smaller than other battles in the Civil War, it is known as the second largest in Kentucky and the first significant Union victory in the war.

Although Kentucky declared itself a neutral state in the war, the Confederacy first violated that neutrality in late 1861 when it occupied Columbus.  Union forces under General Grant seized Paducah two days later. 

Both sides recognized the importance of Kentucky, as it was considered the gateway to the South's strongholds - especially in the strategic state of Tennessee.

"I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky," President Lincoln once observed.

By early 1862, Confederate forces had established a defensive line anchored at Bowling Green on the right and Columbus, Kentucky on the left.

After being defeated at the Battle of Wildcat Mountain in October 1861, Confederate Gen. Zollicoffer was determined to try another advance into Kentucky.  He entered the state through Monticello and advanced to Mill Springs on the Cumberland River, arriving in the area on November 29, where he established and fortified a camp.

His commander, Maj. Gen. George B. Crittenden, had arrived and took command of Zollicoffer's forces.

Meanwhile, Union Brig. Gen. George Thomas received orders to destroy Crittendon's army and drive the Confederates across the Cumberland River.  He left Lebanon and slowly marched through rain-soaked country, arriving at Logan’s Crossroads on January 17, where he waited for Brig. Gen. A. Schoepf’s troops from Somerset to join him.

Crittenden knew that Thomas was in the area and decided to attack, believing that was the best defense. The Rebels attacked Thomas at Logan’s Crossroads at dawn on January 19.

After marching for six hours through a cold rain that turned the road into a sea of mud, Confederate forces arrived near Logan's Crossroads about 6:30 am on January 19. 

At the foot of a ridge a mile-and-a-half from the crossroads, the advance Confederate cavalry met a strong picket force of Thomas' 10th Indiana Infantry and 1st Kentucky Cavalry regiments.  But the element of surprise was lost as Union forces were on the lookout.  The picket force stubbornly resisted the Confederate advance up the hill.   By the time Confederates reached the high ground, the pickets had been reinforced by the rest of the 10th Indiana, and stood its ground against the advancing Confederates.

Crittenden attacked with Zollicoffer's brigate in the lead.

Almost out of ammunition and unable to fight in the dark misty morning, Union forces fell back and regrouped.  Mississippi troops maneuvered to attack the Union lines close up, which infuriated Union Col. Speed S. Fry, commander of the 4th Kentucky.

He climbed up on a fence and brandished his sword at the enemy, demanding they stand up and fight like men.  Mississippi Confederates were happy to oblige him.

Shortly afterward, Zollicoffer was killed.

According to the Mill Springs Battlefield Association:

After advancing nearly to the ridgeline on the west of the road, almost flanking the Federals on their right, the Confederate advance stalled.  Most of the soldiers had never been in a battle before, and the dark rainy morning, coupled with the smoke and din of battle and the lack of visibility in the dense woods, produced quite a bit of confusion.  Gen. Zollicoffer, leading his brigade from the front with the 19th Tennessee Infantry, was sure that his men were firing on another Confederate regiment, and he rode forward in the road to reconnoiter. There he met Col. Fry, who had ridden to his right for the same purpose.  Neither recognized the other (Zollicoffer was said to have been extremely nearsighted, and his own uniform was hidden from Fry's view by a raincoat), and Zollicoffer ordered Fry to cease firing on his friends.

Fry, assuming Zollicoffer was a Federal officer whom he did not know, and also unsure of who the troops to his right were, answered that he would never intentionally fire on a friendly unit.  As Fry moved back toward his own regiment, Capt. Henry M.R. Fogg of Zollicoffer's staff suddenly rode out of the woods to warn Zollicoffer, firing his pistol at Fry.  Fry and the Union soldiers near him immediately returned the fire, and Zollicoffer fell dead in the road.  (Capt. Fogg was also killed in the battle, probably at this time.)

From that point on, Zollicoffer's forces were unable to make any further significant advances.

Other Confederate forces, however, reached Fry, and engaed the Union soldiers in fierce hand-to-hand combat, poking bayonets through fence rails and swinging their long "cane" knives.

They almost turned the Union left flank, but artillery showed up just in time to shell the attacking Confederates.

Two Union regiments arrived, giving the advantage to the Federal forces.

Crittenden, however, was never able to consolidate all his forces, and never brought his cavalry to bear against the Union flank.

Confederate forces were also hampered by the inability of their weapons to fire in the wet weather, since many soldiers were equipped with older flintlock muskets.

Frustrated and angry, many Tennessee Confederates reportedly were seen smashing their useless flintlocks against trees.

Union forces, however, were able to concentrate their efforts and advanced against the rebel army.  Three Union regiments outflanked the Confederates, and Thomas ordered a general advance, sensing the Confederates were on the verge of collapse.

Although the Confederates were briefly able to halt the Union advance at the top of the hill where they had started their attack, most of the southern soldiers tossed their muskets and equipment and ran.

Crittenden, reportedly drunk during the attack, was unable to stop them.

Abandoning twelve pieces of artillery, 150 wagons, over 1,000 horses and mules, and all of their dead and wounded, Confederates continued to retreat to Chestnut Mound, Tennessee, near Murfreesboro.

The defeat at Mill Springs, combined with General Grant's victories at Forts Henry and Donelson almost a month later, cracked the Confederate defenses in Kentucky and left Tennessee open to Union invasion.

Crittenden was relieved of duty and arrested for drunkenness on March 31, 1862, although he was restored to duty two weeks later.  That summer, General Braxton Bragg ordered a court of inquiry and Crittenden resigned in October.