Churchill's Draw was a steep-sided, narrow gully formed by Mound Creek that the Confederates used to flank Union forces near Mt. Zion Church during the Battle of Richmond. In the early morning hours of August 30, 1862, Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith may have seen the Draw as he rode toward Kingston, or a local guide or a member of the Buckner Guards, a Kentucky detachment familiar with the area, may have provided the information. However he learned of it, he recognized its military potential. The battle's pivotal moment came when Gen. Thomas J. Churchill's brigade emerged from the Draw and slammed into Gen. Mahlon Manson's right flank near Mt. Zion Church, routing his army and sending it into a headlong retreat from which it never fully recovered. The veteran Confederate army rolled up the untested Federal soldiers and eventually pushed them all the way to Richmond, showing how natural features could shape the course and outcome of a battle.