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Kentucky
Kentucky
Authorized: March 12, 2019
Authorized: March 12, 2019
Official Site: https://www.nps.gov/misp/index.htm
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_Springs_Battlefield_National_Monument
The Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument was the location of the Battle of Mill Springs (also known as Battle of Fishing Creek and as Battle of Logan's Crossroads) in January 1862. It was declared to be a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1993 and a national monument in 2019.
On January 15, 2013, Kentucky Representative Hal Rogers introduced the bill H.R. 298, officially titled "To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to evaluate the significance of the Mill Springs Battlefield located in Pulaski and Wayne Counties, Kentucky, and the feasibility of its inclusion in the National Park System, and for other purposes," into the United States Congress. The bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to evaluate the significance of the Mill Springs Battlefield in Kentucky (relating to the Battle of Mill Springs fought on January 19, 1862, in Pulaski and Wayne Counties during the Civil War) and the feasibility of its inclusion in the National Park System (NPS). Rogers said that "the Battle of Mill Springs is a source of great pride and interest to the people I serve." Rogers argued that the battlefield was a "jewel" and would be "an excellent addition to the National Park Service."
The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law March 12, 2019, named it as a national monument.
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Location: Nancy, Kentucky, 88 miles from Lexington
The site of the first significant Union victory in the civil war, Mill Springs Battlefield has earned its place in history. On 19 January 1862, the small town of Logan’s Crossroads (now Nancy, Kentucky) was swallowed by battle, as Confederate and Union forces clashed in the Battle of Mill Springs. When the battle was over, 150 Confederates and 50 federal soldiers lay dead.
Historians say that, coupled with the Confederate losses of forts Henry and Donelson less than a month later, the Union victory at Mill Springs cracked the southern defense line in Kentucky and opened up Tennessee to Union invasion.
Today, visitors can relive the battle and see where each side had set their camps. A visitors center and museum has a wealth of information and artefacts from the 1860s. Around Halloween the site also holds a historical ghost walk – a trip back in time as visitors walk a torch-lit path around the battlefield, listening as re-enactors tell stories of the battle and watch as scenes from the civil war unfold before them.
Making the site a national monument and part of the national park system "means there will always be money there from the federal government to make sure they're maintaining the battlefield in pristine condition," said Rogers.
He noted that the bill will mean taking in around 900 acres of land acquired by the MSBA over the years and transferring it to the park service as well as the visitors center and museum. Additionally, the actual Mill Springs mill across the lake in Wayne County will be donated from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the park service "to create some interest in that." Also taken in will be a couple of old historic homes that served as general's headquarters during the battle.
Rogers said he'll even donate the pen used by the president to sign the bill to the museum for posterity.
There is no indication yet on how long the transfers might take; Rogers said conversations are ongoing with the U.S. Department of the Interior about that.
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