"Confederate Mass Grave"

After the Battle of Mill Springs, Union troops hastily buried Confederate dead in shallow mass graves near where they fell. Some graves were so shallow that bodies began surfacing within 48 hours, leaving local citizens to gather the dead, many frozen to the ground and pried loose with shovels, and rebury them in this area, now known as Zollicoffer Confederate Cemetery, in a mass grave. The large mound is the traditional final resting place for numerous Southern soldiers killed in the battle. The Confederate dead remained unknown and largely forgotten until 1910, when the United Confederate Veterans Association placed a memorial stone on the mass grave. Later, through unit rosters and battle reports, the names of more than 140 Confederate soldiers who fell at Mill Springs were identified. On May 26, 1997, headstones in memory of these fallen Southern soldiers were dedicated. They do not mark individual graves, but memorialize those killed or mortally wounded far from their homes and loved ones in the Battle of Mill Springs. Their remains are here on the field, except for General Zollicoffer and Lieutenant Bailie Peyton of the 20th Tennessee Infantry, whose bodies were removed after the battle and buried in Nashville. The headstones are arranged by regiment in the order the units marched into battle on January 19, 1862.

Kentucky · United States