Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Wednesday, December 4, 1861

General Zollicoffer threw over the first small cavalry picket at Mill Springs.

Colonel J. M. Connell set out from Somerset early that morning with his regiment, Seventeenth Ohio, three pieces of artillery and a company of cavalry, with instructions to move to the river and plant his artillery so as to command the ferry at Mill Springs, in order to prevent Zollicoffer's crossing at that point. Leaving his main force some two and a half miles from the river, Colonel Connell went forward with Captain Ricketts and Lieutenant Fife, of the artillery, to make a personal reconnoissance. On meeting our cavalry before reaching the river at Mill Springs, they (our men.) opened fire and gave chase, and the Colonel very narrowly escaped capture.

I take the following from Connell's official report:

In turning a sharp angle my saddle turned, girth broke, and I was thrown within one hundred yards of them, and but for the noble conduct and cool bravery of Captain Ricketts I would have been killed or captured. He got off his horse and waited until I ran up to him and gave me his horse, while he escaped into the woods.¹

Our men got the Colonel's saddle, one pistol, and some other equipments. Connell moved his force back to a position behind Fishing Creek, some twelve miles from Mill Springs, thus leaving the way open for Zollicoffer to cross.

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¹ Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., p. 475.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 89-90