Confederate Retreat

Much of the Confederate Army retreated through this area, heading south along the Mill Springs Road toward camps and fortifications near the Cumberland River. Mississippi and Tennessee regiments that had fought in the ravine and along the fiercely contested fencerow on this side of the road also passed through as they left the battlefield after a long and difficult fight. When they finally attempted to withdraw, Union infantry and artillery flanked their line, and Union cannons quickly fired over fifty rounds into the Confederate right flank. Private David Scales of Company B, 20th Tennessee, recalled, "We were overpowered and had to fight our way out," while seventeen-year-old Private James L. Cooper of Company C remembered that the retreat began in confusion, with "Every one for himself" as the motto. Colonel Horatio Van Cleve of the 2nd Minnesota wrote that after meeting strong resistance in front and being flanked on the right by part of the Union left, the Confederates were driven from their hiding places and left many dead and wounded on the field. Confederate General William Henry Carroll said that, seeing the fortunes of the day turn against his command and the contest become unequal, he reluctantly permitted a retreat toward the works at Mills Springs; by late afternoon his men had reached the encampment at Beech Grove and occupied the fortifications there, but the position was judged untenable and officers decided to abandon it and return to the opposite bank of the Cumberland. On the other side of the Mill Springs Road, a bayonet charge by the 9th Ohio caused the collapse of the Confederate left flank. James Scully of Thomas' staff praised what he called the grand charge of McCook and his "Dutchman," and Major John A. Brents of the 1st Kentucky also called the 9th Ohio's charge exceptionally gallant. Fearful of being outflanked and trapped, some Tennessee soldiers fled in panic, but from this side of the road, just south of this point, the 29th Tennessee fired into the flank of the 9th Ohio, slowing the Union advance and allowing many Confederates to escape southward. Farther south, the 29th Tennessee and the 16th Alabama Infantry Regiments made a stand before joining the general Confederate retreat toward the Cumberland River camps.

Kentucky · United States