After the Confederates invade the neutral border state of Kentucky in September of 1861, they begin to consolidate a foothold in the southern regions of the Blue Grass State. In January of 1862, a Confederate force from the District of East Tennessee, operating in the Cumberland Gap in Eastern Kentucky, launches an offensive in the region against local Union forces. In response, Brigadier General George Henry Thomas and a division of Federals from the Army of the Ohio are dispatched to meet this threat, and the two forces collide near Mill Springs and Logan’s Cross Roads in one of the first major battles of 1862.