On the recordApril 28, 2014
I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. Madam Speaker, in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, we have dozens of historic sites and landmarks that demonstrate our Nation's proud history to thousands of visitors every year. I am pleased that one of these sites is the Mill Springs Battlefield, which sits in my home county of Pulaski and my birth home county of Wayne, Kentucky. The bill we have before us would give the National Park Service 3 years to complete a study on including this historic battlefield into the National Park System. The Battle of Mill Springs is a source of great pride and interest to my constituents especially. In late 1861, Confederate forces had advanced into Kentucky on its southern border, and on January 19, 1862, they launched an attack on the Union Army camp that was stationed at Logan's Crossroads, later to be called Mill Springs. After a heavy night of marching, the Confederate troops attacked but were driven back, with their commander, Brigadier General Felix Zollicoffer, being killed in the fighting. In the confusion, the Union troops received reinforcements and were able to repel another Confederate attack, this time driving them back into Tennessee. Although this battle did not generate the number of casualties seen at such battles as Antietam or Gettysburg, it was a critically important battle and one of the first major Union victories in the Civil War.…
