Confederate Dead
Mill Springs Battlefield
National Historic Landmark
After the battle, Union soldiers hastily buried the dead. They interred many of the Confederates in shallow mass graves near where they fell. Some graves were so shallow that the bodies began surfacing just days afterward. With the army gone, local men faced the gruesome task of reburial. Cold weather and bodies frozen to the ground made the horrible task even more difficult. They reinterred the remains here, at what is now Zollicoffer Park. It is thought that many of the Confederate soldiers killed in the January 19, 1862, Battle of Mill Springs lie in the mound to your left and rear. The United Confederate Veterans placed a memorial marker on the mass grave in 1910. The stone lists no names. In the 1990s, Geoffrey Walden used unit rosters and battle reports to identify over 140 Confederate soldiers who died here. On May 26, 1997, these headstones erected in memory of the fallen Confederate soldiers were dedicated. They do not mark individual graves, but serve as a memorial to the Confederates killed or mortally wounded at the Battle of Mill Springs.
Although the Confederate dead do not lie in neat rows, their remains are here.
this page online
Left photo: The dedication of the Zollicoffer Monument in 1910. The United Confederate Veterans erected the monument the same year that they marked the Confederate mass grave.
Erected 2014 by Mill Springs Battlefield Association.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Landmarks • War, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the National Historic Landmarks series list. A significant historical date for this entry is January 19, 1862.
Location. 37° 3.323′ N, 84° 44.343′ W. Marker is near Nancy, Kentucky, in Pulaski County. Marker is on Kentucky Route 235, 0.1 miles south of Route 761, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Nancy KY 42544, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Dawn of Battle (here, next to this marker); "Confederate Mass Grave" (here, next to this marker); Confederate Mass Grave Memorial (a few steps from this marker); Gen'l Felix K. Zollicoffer (within shouting distance of this marker); Mill Springs Battlefield (within shouting distance of this marker); A Fatal Mistake (within shouting distance
More about this marker. This marker replaces the marker Confederate Mass Grave
Credits. This page was last revised on March 6, 2021. It was originally submitted on July 24, 2019, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 235 times since then and 20 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on July 24, 2019, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. 4. submitted on March 5, 2021, by Bradley Owen of Morgantown, West Virginia. 5, 6. submitted on July 24, 2019, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.
