Here at the American Battlefield Trust, we have the goal of saving as much historically significant battlefield land across the United States as possible, and, when we have an opportunity, transfer that land to a permanent steward that can for the land forever.
Well folks, thanks to dogged persistence we at the Trust can announce that just this month more than 92 acres of pristine hallowed ground has been transferred to the Mill Springs National Monument at Mill Springs, Kentucky — a unit of the National Park System, incidentally, that came into being through your generosity and our efforts alongside visionary officials.
Without the support of our friends and partners our goal of saving this land would not have been possible, and you have our sincerest thanks.
The Battle of Mill Springs
Kentucky was the physical embodiment of the Civil War era, with newly elected President Abraham Lincoln remarking about his birth state, “I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”
On January 19, 1862, fighting broke out in Pulaski County — named after the famed ‘father of American cavalry’ Casimir Pulaski — during a dark, rain-soaked night with Confederate Gen. Felix Zollicoffer and his troops hoping to surprise the sleeping Federals. Brutal close quarters fighting ensued, with Federal troops pushing back Zollicoffer’s troops through a dense fog. In the ensuing melee, Zollicoffer was shot and killed after mistaking Federal lines for his own.
More than 4,000 Union troops continued to surge against nearly 6,000 Confederates, leading to the latter’s hasty retreat back into Tennessee.
After the Union drubbing at First Manassas and a string of other losses, the Battle of Mill Springs represented the first major Union victory in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
The charge to save this hallowed ground began in the early 1990s, initially led by the Mill Springs Battlefield Association (MSBA). The Trust was soon enlisted in the undertaking alongside the MSBA and preservation champion U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY). Through these efforts, more than 550 acres of land encompassing the core of the battlefield has been permanently protected.
An October 14, 2020, ceremony in Nancy, Ky., cemented this preservation legacy, when Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument officially became part of the National Park System — thanks to Congressman Rogers as well as former U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, MSBA, and local leaders.
Purchased by the Trust back in 2016, these 92.86 acres of battlefield land have now been successfully transferred to the National Park Service — all thanks to you.
We can only fulfill our mission at the Trust through the stalwart support of our friends and donors and know that our victories are your victories.
‘Til the battle is won,
David N. Duncan
President
American Battlefield Trust