The first Confederate victory of the Civil War in Kentucky, the Battle of Barbourville is one of the first of hundreds of skirmishes and battles fought in the Dark and Bloody Ground during the Civil War. Throughout the summer of 1861, Unionists had been training troops at camp Andrew Johnson near Barbourville. Brigadier General Felix Zollicoffer had recently seized the Cumberland Gap. Zollifcoffer sent forward 800 men under Colonel Joel Battle to seize Camp Andrew Johnson and disperse the Union forces there.
The 300 Union troops under Captain Isaac Black put up a brief resistance before retreating from the Camp. The Confederates seized the supplies at Camp Andrew Johnson and burned the buildings in the Camp. The Union suffered casualties of one dead,one wounded and 13 captured. The Confederate losses were seven dead. Later in the war this engagement would barely rate as a skirmish, but this early in the War even very minor engagements were given the dignity of being called a battle.
Donald R. McClarey
Paul Zummo
Almost Chosen People 