In January 1862, Confederate General Zollicoffer expected a strong Union attack and repeatedly asked for more men and supplies, but received little beyond the river steamer Noble Ellis, sent up from Nashville by General Albert Sidney Johnston with provisions and clothing for the Confederate camp at Mill Springs on the south side of the Cumberland River. After the hard-fought Battle of Mill Springs on January 19, 1862, near the present town of Nancy, the defeated Confederates retreated south toward Mill Springs with Union troops close behind. Their escape depended on crossing the swollen Cumberland River, and after Union forces halted their pursuit at nightfall and postponed a final assault until morning, the Noble Ellis and a few rowboats ferried the exhausted Confederate army across the river through the night. By daylight the last Confederate soldiers had reached safety on the south bank, and the Confederates then burned and sank the Noble Ellis to prevent its capture by Union forces.