Last updated: February 25, 2024
Place
Tour Stop #2: Zollicoffer Park
NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
Nancy, KY
Significance:
Civil War Battlefield
Designation:
National Monument
Amenities
7 listed
Accessible Sites, Benches/Seating, Cellular Signal, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Pets Allowed, Trailhead
This is the location of the heaviest fighting during the Battle of Mill Springs on January 19, 1862. Confederate troops moved up into this area from the south early in the morning on January 19th, after meeting Federal pickets stationed at Timmy's Branch. Fighting occurred on both sides of the road, near where modern KY 235 is located. Heavy morning fog, bad weather, and the thick haze of black powder smoke created an environment of confusion as inexperienced troops struggled to see more than a rifle's length in front of them.
On the eastern side of the road, where Zollicoffer Park is located, Confederate troops were down in the ravine to the east and were fighting uphill against Federal forces located on the other side of a rail fence. Today you can see a facsimilie of this fence in the park.
On the western side of the road (across KY 235), Federal and Confederate forces clashed, moving through fields and among dense forested areas to exchange fire.
This site has multiple interesting features: a historic wall and gate built in the early 1900s, a monument to Confederate General Felix K. Zollicoffer, the marker for a Confederate mass grave, the earth-print of a large witness tree that fell in the 1990s (The Zollicoffer Tree), multiple symbolic Confederate headstones, and the Ravine Trail, a 3/4 of a mile hiking trail.
On the eastern side of the road, where Zollicoffer Park is located, Confederate troops were down in the ravine to the east and were fighting uphill against Federal forces located on the other side of a rail fence. Today you can see a facsimilie of this fence in the park.
On the western side of the road (across KY 235), Federal and Confederate forces clashed, moving through fields and among dense forested areas to exchange fire.
This site has multiple interesting features: a historic wall and gate built in the early 1900s, a monument to Confederate General Felix K. Zollicoffer, the marker for a Confederate mass grave, the earth-print of a large witness tree that fell in the 1990s (The Zollicoffer Tree), multiple symbolic Confederate headstones, and the Ravine Trail, a 3/4 of a mile hiking trail.