Failure at Fishing Creek: A Mississippi Tiger's Take on Mill Springs

The Battle of Mill Springs, fought January 19, 1862, had a number of names at the time it was fought including Fishing Creek, Logan’s Crossroads, and Somerset. Whatever one called it, the battle proved to be the first major Federal victory in the western theater.

In three hours of hard fighting in a driving rain, General George Thomas’s command held off repeated attacks by General George B. Crittenden’s Confederates and drove them from the field, killing General Felix Zollicoffer in the process. The frustrated Rebels, mostly armed with flintlock muskets that stubbornly refused to fire in the drizzle, fell back to their camp at Beech Grove on the north side of the Cumberland River with Thomas’s men in hot pursuit. Thomas set up for a siege but in the overnight hours, Crittenden evacuated his men aboard a single steamer called the Noble Ellis to the south side of the river then set out on an 80-mile march to Gainesboro, Tennessee.

“The retreat was even more disastrous to the Confederates than the battle itself,” Thomas Connelly wrote. “In his haste to save the small force, Crittenden left behind all his artillery, tents, blankets, mules, and a large amount of his food supply. Crittenden had lost only 500 men on the field but his army was destroyed. Even worse, once his troops reached the south bank of the river, they straggled in all directions.” The Southern press, horrified at the defeat, turned on General Crittenden, labeling him everything from a drunkard to a traitor.

The Confederate defeat at Mill Springs stemmed from a multitude of factors, but the soldiers of the 15^th Mississippi knew it wasn’t from any lack of effort on their part. A quick look at the casualty list for the battle proved it. The “Mississippi Tigers” lost of third of all Confederates killed, half of the wounded, and nearly a third of the missing. To be sure, the 15^th literally took it on the chin in what proved the first of a series of disasters that struck General Albert Sidney Johnston’s defensive line across Kentucky in early 1862.

“In the engagement, the 15^th Mississippi under the lead of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Walthall bore the heat and violence of the fight,” one officer wrote. In this rare contemporary account, the Confederate campaign and assault at Logan’s Crossroads is detailed by an unnamed officer of the 15^th Mississippi.

He didn’t blame General Crittenden at all for what happened lauding his “correctness of judgment, coolness, and decision under circumstances of very great stress.” In his view, the retreat from Logan Crossroads to Gainesboro, Tennessee was a masterpiece of the military art, one which he thought would be regarded in future years as “amongst the most brilliant exhibitions of war talent made throughout the contest.” History has differed mightily with its assessment.

Written about a week after the battle in camp at Gainesboro, the letter first saw publication in the February 12, 1862, edition of the Natchez Daily Courier.

 

Many contemporary accounts cited the death of General Felix Zollicoffer as the key turning point of the Battle of Mill Springs. Riding far ahead of his men in the fog shrouded battlefield, Zollicoffer mistakenly approached the line of the 4th Kentucky (U.S.) and told them to stop firing on their friends. An accompanying staff officer of Zollicoffer's realized the mistake, and opened fire with his pistol. The Federals returned fire, making Zollicoffer, a conspicuous mark in a white rubber overcoat, their primary target. He fell pierced by multiple shots but credit for his dispatch is generally given to Colonel Speed S. Fry of the 4th Kentucky. 

Gainesboro, Tennessee

January 27, 1862

          My last letter dated from Mill Springs on January 18^th informed you of the simple fact that a council of war had during the afternoon determined that an attack by our forces on the enemy must be made. The council was convened by order of Major General George Crittenden and consisted of Brigadier General Zollicoffer, Brigadier General Charles Carroll, and the commanding officers of regiments constituting the force of the Confederate army at Beech Grove. Upon the state of facts as represented and known to the members of the council, there was entire unanimity of conclusion, not one dissenting judgement as to the propriety and necessity of an attack by our army.

          Beech Grove lies on the north bank of the Cumberland River, in a bend, and had been entrenched by our troops. Immediately opposite on the south side of the river on the top of an immense cliff, steep and very hard of ascent, is Mill Spring which had also to some extent been entrenched. Eighteen miles above Beech Grove and to the northeast is Somerset and between the two places runs a stream called Fishing Creek crossed at two points by roads communicating with Beech Grove and Somerset. Below Beech Grove and on the river is a place called Burksville. Ten miles from Mill Spring to the south and in direct communication with Burksville below and Somerset above is Monticello.

          I have mentioned these localities that you may better judge the condition of our army at the time our commanders in solemn council determined the line of policy which was followed. There had been for some time a large force, constituting of some twelve regiments of the enemy stationed at Somerset and which would have been attacked long before the session of this council of war had the utmost exertions of the commissaries been sufficient to overcome the difficulties preventing our army from obtaining proper supplies. The enemy below cut off the river as a medium of transportation and the roads leading to Mill Spring were in such a state as making it impossible for a wagon with an ordinary load to pass. The country immediately around the encampment was completely exhausted. An advance or a retrograde movement and at a very early time was imperative.

The 15th Mississippi lost six sets of colors at the Battle of Mill Springs including the company flag of Co. H, the Yallabusha Rifles, which was captured by the 2nd Minnesota on the battlefield. Most of the early volunteers carried their company colors with them into camp but most did not see service in combat. Most of the Mississippi colors were picked up when the Federals overran the Confederate camp at Beech Grove on January 20, 1862. 

          Of course, the energies of our commanding general were all exercised with the support of the brigadier generals and the commanding officers of the regiments with a view to a forward movement. On Friday January 17^th, after a day or two of vague rumors of heavy forces having passed points below, information was given General Crittenden of reinforcements on the road to Somerset. It is to be observed that for several days a large quantity of rain had fallen and Fishing Creek was greatly swollen, so much so as to prevent it being crossed.

On Saturday the 18^th, scouts, and citizens friendly to us represented to our headquarters that an army of 10,000 men was encamped on the west or south side of Fishing Creek ten miles above our camp and that the creek was impassable. Here then were three armies: above, in front, and below. The one above us was about 8,000 men strong; the below 2,000-3,000 men, and that in front of us, 10,000 strong. Fishing Creek was up and for the time being prevented the junction of the Federal armies.

Private Henry Augustus Moore, Co. F, 15th Mississippi 

          If we waited for an attack from the enemy with their joint forces on our entrenchments with our forces consisting of not more than 5,600 effective men, they would have forced us to capitulate without possibly firing a gun. A small force thrown from Burksville or Somerset to Monticello would have effectually cut off supplies and if large enough, would have prevented our only chance of retreat. Ten thousand men we felt sure could be disconcerted and driven away by our little army and leave us in a good condition to meet the Somerset forces.

          At midnight Saturday night, our army started and marched ten miles. A few moments before 7 o’clock on Sunday morning January 19^th, a member of a cavalry company was wounded by a shot from a picket of the enemy. At 7 o’clock precisely continuous firing from the regiments of both armies began. Brigadier General Zollicoffer led the advance. He fell during the first two hours of the engagement and after the enemy had been twice driven from their position.

Immediately upon his falling, Major General Crittenden himself assumed the advance position and again the enemy was made to retire. Our army fought in the open field; the enemy was in very great measure protected by woods and trees. It is to be particularly noted that as a regiment of the enemy fired, it withdrew and a fresh regiment took its place. Our troops were exhausted and at 11 o’clock, after four hours of hard fighting, we began to retreat. At first there was considerable confusion, but in less than a mile from the battleground, the retreating troops were checked by the efforts made to rally them and by the time our entrenchments at Beech Grove were reached, they were quieted of their fears for the time being and were amenable to the orders of their commanders.

An early map of the battle included in an 1862 edition of the Rebellion Record gives a Federal understanding of how the Confederate attack developed. To be sure, it was a mixed up engagement with both sides struggling to see their enemy through the fog of war. The inexperienced troops (and commanders) certainly played an important role in the outcome. The Confederate troops, many of them armed with old flintlock muskets, had a lot of problems with misfires caused by the damp conditions. 

In the engagement, the 15^th Mississippi under Lieutenant Colonel Walthall and the 20^th Tennessee under Colonel Joel Battle bore the head and violence of the fight, sustained by the 19^th Tennessee under the lead of Colonel Cummings. I do not intend to disparage any, but in writing to you, I desire to make special mention of those commended by all. The enemy followed and late during the afternoon commenced cannonading our works which they continued without any effect until dark.

General Crittenden then commenced evacuating the entrenchments which he effected during the night and by 7 o’clock Monday morning, the advance of his army was at Monticello. But after the army had reached Mill Springs, some with spirits less brave than should be owned by patriot soldiers became insubordinate and by diligent effort communicated a feeling of terror to a very large number and occasioned an exhibition of irregularity in the movement of an army in retreat, truly painful to the great body of the army that remained under the orders of the general and their commanders.

I cannot describe to you the character of the country through which we had to pass. The contiguity of our road to roads on which the enemy had troops, the difficulties of the swollen streams, etc. I can say that I now Know how to appreciate the force of the saying of Peter of Russia or Napoleon which stated, “no one has proven himself a great general until he has successfully conducted a retreat.”

However, this now may be viewed by those who know of it only from hearsay, those who have participated in it under the lead of General Crittenden feel that his correctness of judgment, coolness, and decision under circumstances of very great stress have brought them safe thus far. Our admiration for him in his position will be communicated to others, brothers to brothers and fathers to children, until in after times when references are made to this revolution, whether it terminates successfully or not, the retreat from Beech Grove will be regarded as amongst the most brilliant exhibitions of war talent made throughout the contest. [Ed. Note-Dr. Connelly clearly differed in his assessment!]

The number of wounded, prisoners, and killed is as yet not known. But of this I feel well assured the enemy’s loss was much greater than ours as was the proportion of their army larger than ours. How long we will remain at this location is known only to our general, but of one thing you may rest assured: he will go into battle with an army recuperated physically and strengthened in all the moral faculties of a true soldier and with the full and entire confidence of the men who have seem him tried and found not wanting in any regard, but capable in every particular.

Sources: 

Connelly, Thomas L. Army of the Heartland: The Army of Tennessee, 1861-1862. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1967, pgs. 98-99

Letter from unknown officer of 15^th Mississippi Infantry, Natchez Daily Courier (Mississippi), February 12, 1862, pg. 1