Battle of Wildcat Mountain

Battle of Wildcat Mountain
Located near Livingston, Kentucky
By Lisa
The Camp Wildcat Battlefield is located near the junction of the Wilderness Road and Winding Blade Road in the hills above the Rockcastle River in northern Laurel County, Kentucky. You can get there by driving accross the Rockcastle River near Livingston. The Battle of Wildcat Mountain was fought from the early afternoon of October 20, 1861 and ended on the night of October 21, 1861.

Brig.Gen. Zollicoffer’s men occupied Cumberland Gap and took position at Cumberland Ford. His move into Kentucky was designed to push from Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky and gain control of the state. Brig.Gen. George H. Thomas sent a detachment under Col.T.T. Garrad to secure the ford on the Rockcastle River, established camp at Wildcat Mountain, and obstruct the Wilderness Road passing through the area. Garrad told Thomas that if he did not receive reinforcements, he would have to retreat because he was outnumbered 7 to 1. Thomas sent Brig. Gen. Schoef with what amounted to a brigade of men to Garrad, bringing the total of force to about 7,000. Those troops stopped Zollicoffer at Wildcat Mountain before he could move into Kentucky.
On October 21, soon after Schoef arrived, some of his men moved forward and ran into Confederate forces. The two sides clashed into battle. The Federal repelled the Confederate attacks, in part due to fortifications, both man-made and natural. The Confederates withdrew during the night and continued their retreat to the Cumberland ford. A Union victory was welcomed countering the Confederate victory to Barbourville. The action on Wildcat Mountain was the earliest major battle of the Civil War in Kentucky. The battle inflected only a few casualties, but forced the Confederates to stop any plans to attack central Kentucky, and it forced them to retreat back toward Cumberland Gap. The Union army claimed one of its first victories of the Civil War.
http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/khc/wild.htm