On January 19, 1862, Confederate and Union forces clashed in the
now-forgotten Battle of Mill Springs.
Armies of inexperienced soldiers chaotically fought in the wooded
terrain of south-central Kentucky as rain turned bloodied ground to mud.
Mill Springs was the first major Union victory since the Federal
disaster of Bull Run. This Union triumph secured the Bluegrass State in
Union hands, opening the large expanses of Tennessee for Federal
invasion. From General Felix Zollicoffer meeting his death by wandering
into Union lines to the heroics of General George Thomas, Civil War
historian Stuart Sanders chronicles this important battle and its
essential role in the war.