Person Record
Metadata
Name |
Zollicoffer, Felix Kirk |
Born |
1812 |
Notes |
Zollicoffer was born in Maury County, Tennessee, on May 19, 1812. He initially turned down Gov. Isham Brown's offer of a command of Tennessee state troops with rank of Major General; upon changing his mind, he was commissioned as Brigadier General on July 9, 1861 in the Confederate Army and given command on July 26 of the District of East Tennessee. In trying to keep the Union Army out of East Tennesse, Zollicoffer was killed in action at Mill Springs on January 19, 1862. Being nearsighted, he lost his bearings in the rain, trying to reconnoiter position. Wearing a raincoat without insignia, he rode toward the 4th Kentucky (Union) and ordered their commander, Col. Speed Fry, to cease fire. Col. Speed, satisfied that Zollicoffer was a Union comrade, ordered his men to half firing. Unfortunately, Zollicoffer's aide rode up and warned the general that those men were the enemy. The 4th Kentucky started firing and Zollicoffer suffered several bullet wounds, taking a fatal wound in the chest near his heart. He then fell off his horse. The Union soldiers captured his body but released it to Confederates at Bowling Green. Zollicoffer was buried in the Nashville City Cemetery on February 2, 1862 after lying in state at the Hall of the House of Representatives in the Tennessee State Capitol. |
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