Mill Springs Battlefield

— National Historic Landmark —

The evening of January 19, 1862, Union forces pursuing the beaten Confederates halted at a small log school nearby. The Confederates had used the school as a headquarters for their pickets before the battle. Union soldiers rested here as they prepared to assault the Confederate earthworks in the morning.

Federal artillery deployed on Moulden's Hill, the high ground to your left. The cannon fired throughout the night, discharging over 300 rounds into the fortified Confederate camp at Beech Grove and the steamboat Noble Ellis, which was ferrying the Confederates across the Cumberland River.

When the Federals assaulted the earthworks at Beech Grove the next morning they found them deserted. The Confederate army had escaped across the river. Later, Union Colonel Speed Fry asked General George Thomas,"General, why didn't you send in a demand for surrender last night?" Thomas replied, "Hang it Fry, I never once thought of it."

Inset drawings:
As we approached their entrenchments the division was deployed in line of battle and steadily advancing to the summit of the hill at Moulden's. From this point I directed their entrenchments be cannonaded.
Gen. George H. Thomas

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Moulden's Hill
Fortifications at Beech Grove
Winter Quarters
Beech Grove / Noble Ellis
Zollie's Den
Zollie's Den
The Noble Ellis Saves an Army
Noble Ellis - Sternwheeler that Saved an Army
Home, Headquarters, Hospital
The Cumberland River

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