Battle of Wildcat Mountain

Battle of Camp Wildcat
Part of the American Civil War
Date October 21, 1861 (1861-10-21) Location Laurel County, Kentucky Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States of America (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
Albin F. Schoepf	Felix Zollicoffer
Units involved
Camp Wildcat garrison	Zollicoffer's Brigade
Strength
7,000	5,400
Casualties and losses
5 killed 20 wounded	11 killed 42 missing or wounded

Wildcat Battlefield Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	13.4 miles north of London, Kentucky off U.S. Route 25
Coordinates	37°15′43″N 84°12′1″W / 37.26194°N 84.20028°W / 37.26194; -84.20028Coordinates: 37°15′43″N 84°12′1″W / 37.26194°N 84.20028°W / 37.26194; -84.20028
Area	129 acres (52 ha)
Built	1861 (1861)
NRHP Reference #	79001018
Added to NRHP	June 28, 1979

The Battle of Camp Wildcat (also known as Wildcat Mountain and Camp Wild Cat) was one of the early engagements of the American Civil War (Civil War). It occurred October 21, 1861, in northern Laurel County, Kentucky during the campaign known as the Kentucky Confederate Offensive or Operations in Eastern Kentucky (1861). The battle is considered one of the first Union victories of the Civil War, and marked the second engagement of troops in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

On April 15, 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln called upon the States remaining in the Union to provide volunteers to suppress the insurrection in the seven States which had seceded from the Union by that date. Pro-Confederate Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin refused to send troops, but since the majority of the members of the Kentucky General Assembly were pro-Union, Lincoln's call for volunteers did not prompt the State to secede. On May 16, a Kentucky legislative committee recommended that the State remain neutral in the conflict and Governor Magoffin proclaimed the State's neutrality on May 20.

In elections on August 5, 1861, Kentucky voters returned a veto-proof majority of pro-Union members to the House of Representatives and Senate. On August 6, 1861, Camp Dick Robinson, a Union camp, was established near Lexington. On September 2, 1861, the Kentucky General Assembly raised the U.S. flag over the Kentucky State Capitol at Frankfort.

On September 3, 1861, Confederate Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk ordered Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow to seize Columbus, Kentucky on the Mississippi River before Union forces could do so. This ended Kentucky's neutrality, led to Union Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's seizure of Paducah, Kentucky on September 6, 1861, and other military movements and actions by both Union and Confederate armies in Kentucky soon afterwards.