In the early morning of December 30, 1862, three companies of Gen. John H. Morgan’s 9th Kentucky Cavalry, supported by a single 12-pounder mountain howitzer, demanded the surrender of the Federal garrison at New Haven, Kentucky. The garrison, commanded by Capt. John K. Allen, consisted of Company H, 78th Illinois Infantry Regiment in a small stockade at the west end of the L&N Railroad bridge. About 90 Union soldiers faced 220 Confederates, and Col. William H. Benneson of the 78th Illinois Infantry Regiment, who was in New Haven, declined the surrender demand. The fighting began with Confederate artillery fire from 1000 yards northeast of the stockade, and the gun was moved several times over more than an hour to close the range. When the Confederates came within 800 yards, the Union soldiers opened fire, drawing in the Confederate cavalrymen, who dismounted behind the Howell House, deployed, and returned fire. After thirty minutes, heavy Federal infantry fire drove off the main attack. A second Confederate attempt tried to flank the stockade along the north side of the railroad embankment, but Union fire again repulsed them. The Confederates withdrew with their dead and wounded. The Union garrison suffered no casualties, though artillery fire damaged several buildings in New Haven, including both taverns, while Confederate losses were reported as 2 killed and 10 wounded.