Camp Nelson Heritage National Monument

Oliver Perry House , the camp's only surviving original building, now a museum

The Camp Nelson Heritage National Monument is an American national monument in Jessamine County , Kentucky . It was designated by President Donald Trump by a Presidential Proclamation on October 26, 2018 with the name Camp Nelson National Monument and an area of 380 acres . On March 12, 2019 name was, by signing the Convention Act John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act by Trump, in Camp Nelson Heritage National Monument changed. The National Monument was designated to commemorate Camp Nelson during the American Civil War . In particular, the emancipation of Afro-American soldiers in the United States Army in the Civil War is discussed here. The National Park Service oversees the Camp Nelson Heritage National Monument .

History of Camp Nelson

Camp Nelson's gray building

The Camp Nelson in 1863 as a supply depot and hospital of the United States Army , founded as General Ambrose Burnside and his Army of the Ohio a campaign in Tennessee launched, which was then part of the Confederate States of America was. The US Army dispatched troops from the camp to conduct military operations on the Cumberland Gap and the front lines in Tennessee and Virginia . The camp was named after Major General William "Bull" Nelson, who was shot and killed by Union Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis in an argument in 1862 . During the war, the camp reached 2,500 acres and over 300 buildings stood on the site. The camp included numerous buildings for forging and wagon construction, as well as buildings for storing materials and artillery equipment. Camp Nelson also included barracks and staff buildings. A hospital with 700 beds, a hospital for military prisoners and a rehabilitation facility were available for the injured and the sick.

Camp Nelson was also used as a recruiting and training center for new soldiers from Eastern Tennessee and escaped male slaves, and as a refugee camp for their wives and children during the Civil War . Camp Nelson was one of the largest US Army recruiting centers for African American soldiers, then known as the United States Colored Troops . During the war, thousands of slaves risked their lives to flee to Camp Nelson . Today, Camp Nelson is one of the best-preserved properties and archaeological sites that can be linked to the recruitment of colored soldiers from the United States and the refugee days of African American slaves seeking their freedom during the Civil War. Beginning in 1863, slaves tried to gain their freedom by escaping to Camp Nelson and other Union military facilities in Kentucky, although slavery was still legal in Kentucky at the time. The Emancipation Proclamation , published by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 to free slaves, only applied to the Confederate States of America. As a strategically important border state, Kentucky had remained loyal to the Union and was therefore out of the scope of the proclamation.

Kentucky was the last state in the union to allow the reception of escaped slaves. However, beginning in April 1864, the state allowed free African American men and enslaved men who had their owners' express permission to enroll in the US Army. Despite these limited recruitment options, slaves risked their lives and arrived at Camp Nelson in the spring of 1864 . Their goal was to join the US Army to gain freedom and fight for the freedom of others.

Many of the escaped slaves who came to Camp Nelson in 1864 were accompanied by their families. While enrollment in the US Army allowed men to attain their own freedom, it did not have the same effect on their family members, who remained slaves in the eyes of the law. Afro-Americans at Camp Nelson who did not register for the army set up a refugee camp. As the recruitment of colored soldiers for the US Army increased, so did the number of freedom-seeking refugees in Camp Nelson . There were efforts by the US Army to separate the families and return those who did not become soldiers to their owners. US Army's efforts to remove refugees from Camp Nelson culminated in the forced displacement of approximately 400 African American women and children in the cold weather of November 1864. The displacement resulted in the deaths of 102 refugees. This tragedy has drawn national attention and public support for the plight of the refugees at Camp Nelson . In response, the US Army established Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees in January 1865 , creating a safe haven for the wives and children of African American soldiers. Influenced by these events, the US Congress passed a law in March 1865 which made the wives and children of every enlisted soldier in the Union free citizens. This law also provided an additional incentive for African American men to join the US Army and led to a steady increase in recruitment until the end of the war. By the end of the Civil War, more than 23,000 African Americans had joined the US Army in Kentucky. Kentucky was the second largest provider of colored soldiers in the United States. More than 10,000 African American men have been recruited or trained at Camp Nelson . Eight colored regiments of the Union Army were established at Camp Nelson and five other such regiments were stationed there during the war.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, the War Department began closing Camp Nelson . The United States Sanitary Commission operated a soldiers' home at Camp Nelson, in a former barracks.

Camp Nelson today

Camp Nelson Info Center

The Oliver Perry House , built in 1846, is the only civil war building on the site that is still standing. General Ambrose Burnside confiscated the house as officers' quarters during the war. The house has been referred to as the White House in many official letters . The house is currently operated as a museum.

Camp Nelson has five miles of hiking trails on the northern border. Here are the remains of fortresses and fortifications, which are marked with signs. Fort Putnam was reconstructed according to the specifications of the original plan.

Protection expulsions

The Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park with 525 acres was established on the camp site and was subordinate to the Jessamine County Fiscal Court . As of March 15, 2001, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). On March 12, 2013, Camp Nelson was designated as Camp Nelson Historic and Archeological District by US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar as a National Historic Landmark District (NHLD).

US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke proposed on August 24, 2017 that Camp Nelson should be considered a national monument.

Others

Camp Nelson National Cemetery

The Camp Nelson National Cemetery , part of the United States National Cemetery system , is just a mile south. The Camp Nelson National Cemetery has an area of 30.2 acres. The cemetery has a capacity of 15,000 graves. There are currently over 12,000 documented graves. Black soldiers from the US Army are buried in 837 of the 2,452 graves that still existed from the Civil War.