Speed S . Fry Speed Smith Fry ( September 9 , 1817 – August 1 , 1892 ) was a lawyer , judge , and a United States Army officer during the Mexican - American War and American Civil War . Early life . Fry was born in Mercer County , Kentucky ( now Boyle County ) near Danville . He graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville , Indiana , in 1840 and returned to Danville to practice law under his uncle . He served as a captain in the 2nd Kentucky Volunteer Regiment during the Mexican - American War and saw action at the Battle of Buena Vista , where his company fired the last shots of the battle . After the war he returned home and was appointed a judge of Mercer County and served in that position until the Civil War . Civil War . With the outbreak of the Civil War , Fry was immediately made a colonel of Kentucky Militia . He helped raise the 4th Kentucky Infantry at Camp Dick Robinson and on October 9 , 1861 he was appointed colonel of the regiment . Mill Springs and Zollicoffer ' s death . Fry led his regiment into action at the Battle of Mill Springs on January 19 , 1862 . During the battle the fighting became disorganized and Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer rode up to Fry ' s regiment thinking they were Confederate troops , and addressing Colonel Fry , he ordered them to stop firing . Zollicoffer ' s aide came riding from the woods and , attempting to warn the general that he was in the midst of enemy soldiers , fired off a shot . Fry immediately raised his pistol and fired at Zollicoffer , who fell dead . But a debate exists over who actually killed the general . Fry never specifically claimed he was the one who killed Zollicoffer , but many reports and paintings at the time give full credit to him . However , there were members from three different Union regiments standing near Fry who also fired . Whether or not he was the sole person to shoot General Zollicoffer , the Confederates were so outraged that they accused Fry of murder . Promotion to general . On March 21 , 1862 , Fry was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and commanded the 2nd Brigade , 1st Division , in the Army of the Ohio under Don Carlos Buell . His brigade arrived at the Battle of Shiloh at the end of the second day , too late to participate in the fighting . Buell reported that Fry ' s performance was " inefficient " . His brigade did participate in the siege of Corinth . Returning to Kentucky , he led his brigade into action at the Battle of Perryville just a few miles away from where he was born . Once the Confederate forces had withdrawn from Kentucky , Fry took command of the 3rd Division , Center Wing , of the XIV Corps ( Army of the Cumberland ) , which he led in the Stones River Campaign ; he and most of his division were not engaged in the Battle of Stones River . For much of the remainder of the war , he commanded the North Central Kentucky sub - district . At the close of the war , he was in command of Camp Nelson , the vast Union recruiting and deployment depot south of Lexington . He was mustered out of the service on August 24 , 1865 , without being awarded the brevet rank of major general , which was usually bestowed automatically in the case of a brigadier general with Fry ' s time in grade . Post Civil War . In 1866 , Fry was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress . He was the supervisor for Internal Revenue collection in his congressional district . He was the superintendent of the Soldier ' s Home and was also an elder of the Presbyterian Church . He died near Louisville , Kentucky , and is buried in the Bellevue Cemetery , Danville , Kentucky .