Феликс Кирк Золликофер: Жизнь и военная карьера

American newspaperman, politician, and soldier

Felix Kirk Zollicoffer (May 19, 1812 – January 19, 1862) was an American newspaperman, slave owner, politician, and soldier. A three term United States Congressman from Tennessee, an officer in the United States Army, and a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War; he led the first Confederate invasion of eastern Kentucky and was killed in action at the Battle of Mill Springs. Zollicoffer was the first Confederate general to die in the Western Theater.

Felix Zollicoffer was born on a plantation in Bigbyville in Maury County, Tennessee, a son of John Jacob and Martha (Kirk) Zollicoffer. He was descended from emigrants from Switzerland who had settled in North Carolina in 1710. His grandfather, George Zollicoffer, had served as a captain in the Revolutionary War, and had been granted a tract of land in Tennessee as payment for his military service. Zollicoffer attended the local schools and studied for a year at Jackson College in Columbia, Tennessee. Three years later, he became editor and part owner of the Columbia Observer. On September 24, 1835, he married Louisa Pocahontas Gordon, with whom he had fourteen children, of whom only six survived infancy. She was a direct descendant of Pocahontas through her mother, Dolly. Louisa Zollicoffer died in 1857. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1858 and retired to private life. He supported fellow Tennessee moderate John Bell (CU) for president in the election of 1860.

Tennessee voters rejected the call for a secession convention in February 1861. Tennessee Governor Isham Harris soon began to maneuver the state into a position where secession would be inevitable. During the period between April and July, Harris organized a state army, the Provisional Army of Tennessee. Upon the announcement of the formation of the Provisional Army of Tennessee, Zollicoffer offered his service to the state army. Despite only having brief combat experience, he was appointed as a brigadier general in the Provisional Army of Tennessee on May 9, 1861, by Governor Isham Harris. On July 9, 1861, Zollicoffer was commissioned a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army. Although the Confederate States Army began to absorb the Provisional Army of Tennessee on July 31, 1861, Zollicoffer's troops were not mustered into Confederate service until the end of October. For almost four months, Zollicoffer was in the strange position of being a Confederate Army general in charge of state troops. Harris initially tried to sway eastern Tennessee's pro Union population with a lenient policy and the stationing of only fifteen companies of troops in the region. On July 26, 1861, Harris, who was still in charge of the Tennessee state force, ordered Zollicoffer and 4,000 raw recruits to Knoxville to be in position to suppress resistance to secession in East Tennessee, appointing him to command the District of East Tennessee. Harris was re elected governor on August 8, 1861, and on August 18, he ordered Zollicoffer to arrest and, if necessary, banish leaders of pro Union factions from the state, changing his policy from leniency to force.

In an effort to prevent a Union Army incursion into east Tennessee, Zollicoffer took the initiative and occupied Cumberland Gap on September 14, 1861. Zollicoffer then was responsible for guarding the 128 mile (206 km) of Confederate line between Cumberland Gap and Tompkinsville, Kentucky. For 71 miles, this line crossed the Cumberland Mountains. He retained Zollicoffer as district commander in east Tennessee. On September 17, 1861, Zollicoffer sent a force through the Cumberland Gap along the Wilderness Road to drive the Union Army from Barbourville, Kentucky, relieve pressure on the recently established Confederate line at Bowling Green, Kentucky and thwart an expected drive by Union Brigadier General George H. Thomas into eastern Tennessee and the Cumberland Gap by forcing him to retain his force in Kentucky. Another detachment of Zollicoffer's force under Colonel James Rains dispersed an encampment of Union recruits at Laurel Bridge, Kentucky, on September 26, 1861, while the Goose Creek Salt Works were attacked by a second Confederate unit under Colonel D. H. Cummings, which carried off 200 barrels of salt. Zollicoffer's force was essentially on a raid and soon withdrew. In mid October 1861, a large part of Zollicoffer's force marched 40 mile (64 km) from Cumberland Gap to London, Kentucky. At the Battle of Wildcat Mountain on October 21, Zollicoffer's force was stymied by a prepared Union force fighting on rugged terrain, and he soon retreated into rural eastern Tennessee, which remained rife with Union sentiment.

In November 1861, Zollicoffer changed strategy and advanced westward, then back into southeastern Kentucky to strengthen Confederate control in the area just south of Somerset. This was a risky tactic because Zollicoffer's men were poorly equipped, ill trained and ill disciplined. They were not properly prepared to meet the growing Union threat and Zollicoffer's expectation that he would solve this problem by receiving supplies and reinforcements at Beech Grove, opposite Mill Springs, was too optimistic. Zollicoffer's own reserve force at Knoxville was mostly unarmed. Under the circumstances in December 1861, without needed supplies or reserves, Zollicoffer was in no position to move against the Union force. Unaware of the situation in east Tennessee and of Zollicoffer's plan, on December 8, 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed Major General George B. Crittenden to command the district of East Tennessee in order to lead a force into Kentucky. Crittenden assumed command of the district, only to find that the ten regiments he expected to find there did not exist. Because of the incessant rain and resulting mud, Thomas needed 18 days to move his force and equipment from Lebanon to Logan's Crossroads.

On January 18, 1862, Crittenden ordered an advance at midnight, while the two Union forces under Thomas and Schoepf were separated by the rain swollen Fishing Creek. The Battle of Mill Springs, sometimes called the Battle of Fishing Creek or the Battle of Logan's Crossroads, a three hour fight in driving rain, fog and the smoke of battle over thickly wooded ground, followed. The 15th Mississippi Infantry Regiment mistook the Union 4th Kentucky Infantry Regiment for blue clad Confederates. He further stated that Fry, not Zollicoffer, had ridden into the enemy lines and had begun the conversation, only turning upon Zollicoffer when the Confederate aide rode up. He states that both officers rode out from their lines and that Fry initially thought Zollicoffer was a Union officer. Other accounts state that Fry also called to a few of his men to fire, although Fry later denied this. Many of the old Confederate flintlock weapons would not fire in the wet conditions and Zollicoffer's death caused his demoralized men to start a retreat. He left his artillery, mules, equipment and most of his food supply on the north bank, shattering his ordnance and logistical strength He was embalmed by a Union surgeon and was eventually returned to Tennessee and interred in the Old City Cemetery in Nashville.

Zollicoffer Park, a Confederate cemetery containing a mass grave of the Confederate fallen, lies just outside Nancy. (There is also a Union cemetery located in Nancy, Mill Springs National Cemetery, the oldest of all National Cemeteries still receiving burials other than Arlington National Cemetery.) This public park receives at least two memorial events each year, one on January 19, and the other on Memorial Day. There have also been re enactments of the Battle of Mill Springs.