Mill Springs National Cemetery

Mill Springs National Cemetery is a VA national cemetery in Nancy, Kentucky. VA lists it as open for burials. Burial is free for eligible veterans, their spouses and dependent children.

Source: National Cemetery Administration (cem.va.gov), retrieved May 2026

History of Mill Springs National Cemetery

Mill Springs National Cemetery is situated on a high, sloping knob in Pulaski County near Logan's Cross Roads in Kentucky. Located 10 miles west of Somerset on Highway 80 at Nancy, KY, it was originally established as Logan's Cross Roads National Cemetery in the early 18th century. Kentucky contains one of the highest concentrations of NCA-managed national cemeteries and soldier's lots in a single state, seven in all.

Kentucky lay between the Union and Confederate forces and was a state divided in spite of its effort to avoid the Civil War. The Union armies gathered 90,000 Kentucky men under their flag; the Confederacy gathered more than 40,000 men from the southern part of the state.

One of the first Kentucky battles involving a sizable number of troops occurred in Pulaski County on William H. Logan's farm. This event has several names: Beech Grove, Fishing Creek, Logan's Cross Roads and the Battle of Mill Springs. Brig. Gen. Felix K. Zollicoffer of Nashville, TN, was in charge of the southeastern sector of the Confederate army. Having fortified the gaps in the Cumberland range, he moved southward and took position at Mill Springs on the south bank of the Cumberland River, five miles below the mouth of Fishing Creek. This stream crossed the roads leading from Somerset to the ferry at Mill Springs.

On December 9, 1861, Zollicoffer crossed the river and made camp on the north bank at a place called Beech Grove. The hill was protected on three sides by the river and left about 1,200 yards of fighting front to defend. Gen. George B. Crittenden arrived at Mill Springs and assumed command about January 1. Although he did not like Zollicoffer's position, "with an enemy in front and a river behind" he took no measures to recall him. Regardless of instructions to remain strictly defensive, Crittenden also moved to Beech Grove with a force of 6,444 soldiers. After the withdrawal of Confederate forces from neighboring Laurel County, Union Gen. Albin F. Schoepf was ordered to Somerset with about 5,000 infantry. In mid-January 1862, Brig. Gen. George H. Thomas departed Lebanon, KY, for Somerset with his army. The combined troops of 12,000 men were to assault the Confederate forces of Crittenden and Zollicoffer at Mill Springs.

A Confederate Council of War met and decided that Thomas' forces should be defeated before they could assemble and assault Crittenden. On January 19, 1862, the battle raged from morning until dark. Early in the fighting Zollicoffer was killed, which had a demoralizing effect on his troops. The Confederates were dispersed and retreated across the Cumberland River into Tennessee. Largely forgotten today, and overshadowed in its own time by battles at Shiloh and Fort Donelson, Mill Springs was the first significant Union victory of the Civil War. It proved crucial to Union control of Kentucky and the interior South and shaped later developments in the war. Mill Springs was important for another reason: it revealed the deep divisions that existed throughout the border states.

After the battle, Thomas laid out the burial grounds on a portion of the Mill Springs battlefield. The victors gathered their dead and buried them in neat rows a mile from where they fell. Within five years after the April 1865 surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, VA, a vast reburial program was completed with some 300,000 Civil War dead being reinterred in 73 national cemeteries. Locally, soldiers were disinterred from Monticello, Columbia and elsewhere in the state and reinterred at Mill Springs. According to early records, 408 of the 722 graves recorded in the burial ledger were unknowns who had been disinterred from other locations and whose names were lost or weathered away from their crude "headboards."

In 1867, William H. and Nancy S. Logan donated additional land to the government for the national cemetery. He died October 16, 1884, and she died March 24, 1896. Both are interred in the national cemetery with gravesites marked by private monuments.

Mill Springs National Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Notable interments

The National Cemetery Administration lists these people of note buried at Mill Springs National Cemetery, with section and site where recorded.

Directions

From Interstate 75, London/Somerset exit, proceed west on Highway 80 (Cumberland Parkway) to Somerset. From Somerset, take Highway 80 to Nancy (about 10 miles). The cemetery is located on your right as you enter Nancy.

Flowers and grounds rules

Mill Springs National Cemetery is not responsible for any items left at gravesites.

Floral arrangements (up to 6 arrangements only) accompanying the casket or urn at the time of burial will be placed on the completed gravesite by cemetery staff. Natural cut flowers may be placed on graves at any time. They will be removed when they become unsightly or when it becomes necessary to facilitate cemetery operations such as mowing.

Education and visiting programs

More than half of VA's national cemeteries originated with the Civil War and many are closed to some burials. Other sites were established to serve World War veterans and they continue to expand. Historic themes related with NCA's cemeteries and soldiers' lots vary, but visitors should understand "Why is it here?" NCA began by installing interpretive signs, or waysides, at more than 100 properties to observe the Civil War Sesquicentennial (2011–2015). Please follow the links below to see the interpretive signs for Mill Springs National Cemetery.

A National Cemetery System Mill Springs National Cemetery

Who can be buried at Mill Springs National Cemetery?

VA national cemeteries accept a veteran who didn't receive a dishonorable discharge, a service member who died on active duty or in training, the veteran's spouse or surviving spouse (even if they remarried), and minor or, in some cases, unmarried adult dependent children. National Guard and Reserve members qualify under narrower rules. You can ask VA for a pre-need eligibility decision in advance; it does not reserve a gravesite.

What does burial here include at no cost?

• A gravesite in any VA national cemetery with available space
• Opening and closing of the grave
• A government-provided burial liner
• A government-provided headstone or marker
• Perpetual care of the gravesite

Veterans also receive a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate (presented to the next of kin at the burial) and military funeral honors, which include the playing of Taps and two uniformed service members who present the flag. The committal service is held at a committal shelter, not at the grave, and lasts about 20 minutes. National cemeteries have no viewing facilities, so the funeral itself is held elsewhere.

How do you schedule a burial at Mill Springs National Cemetery?

1. Gather the veteran's DD214 or other discharge papers, and the deceased's details (Social Security number, dates of birth and death, relationship to the veteran).
2. Fax the discharge papers to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 866-900-6417, or email them to [email protected] with the deceased's name in the subject line.
3. You or the funeral director call 800-535-1117 (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET) to request Mill Springs National Cemetery and a date. National cemeteries hold burials Monday through Friday.

Where is the Mill Springs National Cemetery burial schedule?

VA posts a daily burial schedule for every national cemetery. Search it for Mill Springs National Cemetery to see the committal services planned there. It only lists burials whose families agreed to publish them. To change or cancel a burial that's already scheduled, contact Mill Springs National Cemetery directly at 859-885-5727.

Headstone, flag and burial allowance

• Government headstone or marker: tell the scheduling office which headstone, marker, niche cover or medallion you want when you schedule the burial.
• Burial flag: VA Form 27-2008.
• Burial allowance: For a non-service-connected death on or after October 1, 2026, VA pays up to $1,032 toward burial and funeral costs and $1,032 for a plot; for a service-connected death on or after September 11, 2001, the burial allowance is up to $2,000. Claim it with VA Form 21P-530EZ. All benefits

After the funeral: survivor benefits and the estate

A surviving spouse, child or parent may qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), a tax-free monthly VA benefit, for example when the death was service connected (VA Form 21P-534EZ). The veteran's estate is settled under Kentucky law; our sister site ProbateUS explains how probate works in Kentucky and lists each county's probate court. For the rest of the paperwork, from Social Security to bank accounts, DeathUS has a step-by-step checklist of what to do when someone dies.

Nearest cemeteries

The three veterans cemeteries closest to Mill Springs National Cemetery, by straight-line distance:

• Danville National Cemetery, Danville, KY: 40 mi, closed to new in-ground burials
• Lebanon National Cemetery, Lebanon, KY: 44 mi, open for burials
• Camp Nelson National Cemetery, Nicholasville, KY: 50 mi, open for burials