At
Beech Grove and
Mill Spring, Ky., there were gathered by the middle of January, 1862, about 10,000 effective Confederate soldiers, with twenty pieces of artillery, under the command of
General Crittenden.
Gen. George H. Thomas was sent to attack them, and, if successful, to push over the
Cumberland Mountains and liberate the east
Tennesseeans from Confederate rule.
He divided his forces, giving a smaller number to the command of
General Schoepf, and leading the remainder himself.
When he was within 10 miles of the
Confederate camp the insurgents came out to meet him. At early dawn (Jan. 19) the
Confederates, 5.000 strong, led by
Zollicoffer, met the
Union pickets—
Woolford's cavalry.
A severe battle was soon afterwards begun on the side of the Nationals by the
Kentucky and
Ohio regiments and
Captain Kinney's battery.
It was becoming very warm, when
Col. R. L. McCook came up with
Ohio and
Minnesota troops, also a Tennessee brigade and a section of artillery.
For a time it was doubtful which side would prevail.
They were hotly contesting the possession of a commanding hill when
Zollicoffer was killed at the head of his column.
General Crittenden immediately took his place, and the struggle for the hill continued about two hours. A galling fire from
Minnesota troops and a charge of
Ohio troops with bayonets compelled the
Confederates to give way and retreat towards their camp at
Beech Grove.
They were hard pressed by the Nationals, who had gained a position where their great guns commanded the
Confederate works and the ferry across the
Cumberland River.
Such was the situation when the conflict ended that evening.
The next morning the
Confederates were gone.
The beleaguered troops had escaped silently across the river, under cover of darkness, abandoning everything in their camp and destroying the vessels that carried them over the stream.
The
Nationals lost 247 men, of whom thirty-nine were killed; the
Confederates lost 349, of whom 192 were killed and eighty-nine were made prisoners.