"A Hard March"

"A Hard March". . On December 31, 1861, Union General George Thomas and his small army of about 3,000 men left Lebanon, Kentucky, and headed for this place, then known as Logan`s Crossroads. For his hardened troops, this 40-mile trek should have been a two or three day undertaking. But heavy winter rains turned roads into ankle-deep mud. The men--wet, cold and on half rations for part of the trip, suffered for two and a half weeks to cover the distance. , Arriving here on January 17, General Thomas intended to rest his weary troops then link up with Union General Albin Schopf`s forces (8 miles east at Somerset) and attack the Confederate camp (nine miles south at Beech Grove). It didn't turn out as planned! , During the battle, General Thomas rode to the hilltop where you are now standing (shown on the bottom left of the above map with three log houses) on the outskirts of the Union camp. It was from this vantage point that he commanded the victorious Union forces. At the time of the battle, Logan`s Crossroads (now Nancy) consisted of a few rustic buildings, mostly log, a few small fields and large areas of woods. After the battle, the Union dead were collected from the battlefield and buried in their camps. In 1867, the Mill Springs National Cemetery was created. The bodies of the Union dead were disintered and were among the first to be buried in this hallowed place