Jan. 16, 1862: Kentucky - Gen. Felix Zollicoffer, against orders from his superior, Gen. George Crittenden, moves his brigades north over the Cumberland River in southeastern Kentucky, taking up position with the river at his back near Mill Springs. Union troops under Gen. George Thomas are advancing toward this area. Gen. Crittenden, under orders from the department commander, Albert Sidney Johnston, arrives and takes command. Crittenden decides to attack the approaching Yankees before they can attack him.
–The USS Hatteras makes a sortie into the harbor of Cedar Keys, a small port town 1000 miles north of Tampa, Florida, in order to capture and close down the blockade runners’ haven. Five schooners and three sloops, loaded with cotton and turpentine, are captured and set afire. The Union sailors also cripple the port’s battery, and destroy the railroad depot, the telegraph office, seven railroad cars, and a warehouse full of turpentine.
–At Hatteras Inlet, the entrance to Pamlico Sound in North Carolina, Goldsborough’s fleet, now some 100 vessels, is still stranded outside the bar of the inlet, the bottom being too shallow for the ships to go though. Three vessels have been driven by high winds and stormy waters onto the shoals, and the soldiers on board the transports are on half rations.
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