In November 1861, General Don Carlos Buell was given command of the Department of the Ohio, even though most of his troops were encamped in Kentucky. It was expected that Buell would advance into Tennessee and destroy the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad. What he did instead was to stay in his camp until pressure from Confederate raiders and prodding from Washington caused him to gather his troops at Mumfordville and send an advance guard under General Thomas south of the Green River. This was to counter a force under Brigadier General Felix K. Zollicoffer, which had arrived at Mill Springs from the Cumberland Gap. By January 17th, Thomas had arrived at Logan's Crossroads, ten miles north of the Confederate force at Mill Springs. Zollicofer had been replaced as commander by General George B. Crittenden, who, learning of the arrival of Thomas, called a council of his officers which resulted in the decision to attack Thomas at dawn. As was typical for winter in the area, it had been raining and the crude roads had turned to mud tracks. Crittenden began his advance at midnight. As the Confederates had hoped, Thomas's troops where strung out all along the muddy trail. Zollicoffer's brigade led the advance. After a nine-mile march in the cold and rain, the Confederates encountered pickets from Wolford's cavalry and drove them back to the reserve, which consisted of two companies of the 10th Indiana. Zollicoffer's troops were now deployed and were pushing back the dismounted troopers and the 10th, almost capturing their horses in the process. The Federals were assembling and hurrying toward the sound of the firing. The 4th Kentucky was the first to arrive on the field and deployed to the left of the 10th at the fence. The 10th and the cavalry fell back to their camps to rally. The Confederates had filled the large ravine and were firing into the Kentucky troops from its cover. At this time a strange little drama unfolded. The Colonel of the 4th Kentucky, Speed S. Fry, rode out from the smoke-filled woods to get a better look at what was going on. At that time a slight drizzle was failing. He encountered an officer who was wearing a raincoat. They had a short conversation during which one of the topics discussed was about being careful not to fire at their own troops. As they were parting, a rider suddenly appeared and fired at Fry, wounding his horse. Realizing that he had been conversing with Confederates, Fry now fired at the raincoated rider as did a number of his troops who had been watching. The rider dropped and was soon discovered to be Zollicoffer. The Confederates had advanced to the fence line and a heavy firefight began. Thomas then arrived and reorganized the 10th Indiana. Two of Zollicoffer's regiments had fallen back at his death but Crittenden ordered a general advance and brought up Carroll's brigade. To counter this attack a section of Kenny's battery was placed to the left of the 4th Kentucky and Carter was sent to the far left with the 1st and 2nd Tennessee and Wetmore's battery. The 9th Ohio went to the right. The remaining section of Kenny's battery, Standart's battery, and the 2nd Minnesota became the reserve. The firefight was intense, especially in the center. The 4th Kentucky and the 10th Indiana ran out of ammunition and withdrew. The Union forces began to overlap the Confederates and Carer's brigade, taking advantage of the artillery support from Wetmore's battery. In the center, the 2nd Minnesota faced strong resistance, while the 9th Ohio advance against the Confederate left and broke into a charge against the open Tennessee flank. This was too much for them and they cracked, causing the Confederates to rout off the field.The Tennessee cavalry briefly held back the Federal advance until the 14th Ohio and the 10th Kentucky came up and the troopers were driven away by artillery fire. The Union army followed up and surrounded the Confederate camp and began to fire at both the fortified camp and the ferry steamer to prevent escape. Schoepf arrived during the night with the rest of Thomas's troops; the 17th, 31st, and 38th Ohio. Assault colu were formed in the morning but they found the camp deserted and the ferries burned. The Union troops found 11 guns, 150 wagons, over 100 mules and horses, and 5 stands of colors. When asked by Colonel Fry why he hadn't asked for the surrender of the Confederates during the night, Thomas looked surprised and replied: "Hang it, Fry, I never once though of it. " Losses for the Union where 39 killed, 207 wounded. The Confederates lost 125 killed, 309 sounded, and 99 missing. However, this last Confederate force in Kentucky, which would lose hundreds to fatigue, hunger, and desertion, was destroyed as a fighting forced. At the same time, a smaller force under Brigadier General Humphrey Marshall was withdrawing into Virginia. Even with Kentucky cleared of any enemy resistance, Buell made no move to take advantage of his victory. WARGAMING CONSIDERATIONS: Both armies have about 4,000 men each. The Confederates have finished a long hard march and gone into battle without breakfast. 80 to 90 % of them are armed with smoothbores and some flintlocks--only 30 % of the Union troops are so armed. Much of the C.S. artillery would be smoothbore 6 pounders. The Union artillery would be a mix of rifled guns and smoothbores. Wetmore's battery was known to be rifled Parrots. The game should begin with the appearance of the C.S. cavalry and the lead three regiments of Zollicoffer's brigade, the rest of the unit coming in on the next turn. Carroll's brigade must be available for the 3rd and 4th turn. On the Union side, the 10th Indiana and Wolford's cavalry are present. The 4th Kentucky would make an appearance on the 2nd turn. The appearance of the other troops should be diced for in the 3rd- 6th turns. Visibility should be about 200 yards and the effectiveness of the Confederates' fire should be lowered. Quality of all the troops should be average. "The possibility of Zollicoffer's death should be taken into account --most of the commanders were in the front lines. UNION TROOPS Brigadier General George H. Thomas 2nd Brigade--Colonel M.D. Manson: 19th Indiana 4th Kentucky 10th Kentucky 14th Ohio 3rd Brigade--Colonel R.I. McCook: 2nd Minnesota 9th Ohio 12th Brigade--General S.P. Carter: 12th Kentucky 1st Tennessee 2nd Tennessee 1st Kentucky Cavalry Artillery: Battery B, 1st Ohio (Standart) Battery C, 1st Ohio (Kenny Battery K, 9th Ohio (Wetmore) Camp guard Michigan Engineers, Companies D,F,K. Company A 38th Ohio CSA Major General George B. Critendon: 1st Brigade --Brigadier General F.K. Zollicoffer: 5th Mississippi 19th,20th,25th Tennessee Rutledge's Tennessee Battery Bledsoe's Independent Tennessee Cavalry Battalion Sander's Independent Tennessee cavalry 2nd Brigade--Brigadier General W.H. Carroll: 16th Alabama 17th, 28th, 29th Tennessee McClung's Tennessee Artillery (2 guns) 4th Battalion Tennessee Cavalry RESERVE 5th Battalion Tennessee Cavalry It should be noted that troop strengths are about 320 for C.S. troops and 400 for the W.S. All other ratings seem to be average. Back to The Zouave Vol VI No. 3 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com