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Camp Nelson National Monument
Camp Nelson National Monument, formerly the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park, is a 525-acre (2.12 km2) national monument, historical museum and park located in southern Jessamine County, Kentucky, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Lexington, Kentucky. The American Civil War era camp was established in 1863 as a depot for the Union Army during the Civil War. It became a recruiting ground for new soldiers from Eastern Tennessee and enslaved people, many of whom had fled their living conditions to be soldiers.
On October 26, 2018, President Donald Trump proclaimed the site as Camp Nelson National Monument, the 418th unit of the National Park Service (NPS) system. The Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves' Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund funded the forested portion overlooking Hickman Creek.
The American Battlefield Trust and its partners joined forces in 2018 to help preserve more than 380 acres of Camp Nelson.
Camp Nelson was established as a supply depot for Union advances into Tennessee. It was named for Major General William "Bull" Nelson, who had recently been murdered. It was placed near Hickman Bridge, the only bridge across the Kentucky River upriver from the state capital (Frankfort, Kentucky). The site was selected to protect the bridge, to have a base of operations in central Kentucky, and to prepare to secure the Cumberland Gap and eastern Tennessee. The camp was also used to train new soldiers for the Union army. The Kentucky River and Hickman Creek steep palisades contributed to the selection of the site. Only the northern side needed fortifications against Confederate attack since three sides have 400–500 feet almost vertical steep cliffs .
Camp Nelson may have been the choice for a central Kentucky depot, but it had disadvantages. When Union Major General Ambrose Burnside attacked the Cumberland Gap and Knoxville, Tennessee, Camp Nelson's distance from the Gap and Knoxville, combined with lack of railroads and the weather, hampered the Union advance.
Its drawbacks as a well situated supply depot led General William Tecumseh Sherman to prioritize Camp Nelson to take a major role in training 10,000 black soldiers who volunteered there for the U.S. Colored Troops. He advocated this role in response to overall Union commander Ulysses S. Grant who visited Camp Nelson in January 1864. Grant had observed the inadequacies in the overland supply routes employed and leaned toward abandoning it entirely. Despite Grant's misgivings, Camp Nelson continued supplying major battles in 1864 such as Saltville VA I and Saltville VA II, as well as Atlanta for which the site provided 10,000 horses.
Recognizing that the Camp Nelson supply depot and the nearby Hickman Bridge were valuable targets for Confederate raider General John Hunt Morgan, Union forces geared up for attacks in July 1863 and June 1864. The most serious threat was mid-June 1864, whereupon Brig. General Speed S. Fry called upon volunteers from among civilian employees. Six hundred were armed and performed guard duty at the northern fortifications around the clock for 6 days. Major C. E. Compton said that due to these civilians, “the depot was saved from capture and destruction.”
Kentucky was one of four slaveholding states not joining the 11 other slaveholding southern states in forming the Confederate States of America which was in a rebellion rooted in decades of disputes over slavery. Kentucky blacks, enslaved and not, men and women, majorly contributed to the Union war effort in Kentucky initially as laborers, but ultimately as soldiers in infantry, artillery, and cavalry.
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Camp Nelson National Monument
Camp Nelson National Monument, formerly the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park, is a 525-acre (2.12 km2) national monument, historical museum and park located in southern Jessamine County, Kentucky, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Lexington, Kentucky. The American Civil War era camp was established in 1863 as a depot for the Union Army during the Civil War. It became a recruiting ground for new soldiers from Eastern Tennessee and enslaved people, many of whom had fled their living conditions to be soldiers.
On October 26, 2018, President Donald Trump proclaimed the site as Camp Nelson National Monument, the 418th unit of the National Park Service (NPS) system. The Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves' Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund funded the forested portion overlooking Hickman Creek.
The American Battlefield Trust and its partners joined forces in 2018 to help preserve more than 380 acres of Camp Nelson.
Camp Nelson was established as a supply depot for Union advances into Tennessee. It was named for Major General William "Bull" Nelson, who had recently been murdered. It was placed near Hickman Bridge, the only bridge across the Kentucky River upriver from the state capital (Frankfort, Kentucky). The site was selected to protect the bridge, to have a base of operations in central Kentucky, and to prepare to secure the Cumberland Gap and eastern Tennessee. The camp was also used to train new soldiers for the Union army. The Kentucky River and Hickman Creek steep palisades contributed to the selection of the site. Only the northern side needed fortifications against Confederate attack since three sides have 400–500 feet almost vertical steep cliffs .
Camp Nelson may have been the choice for a central Kentucky depot, but it had disadvantages. When Union Major General Ambrose Burnside attacked the Cumberland Gap and Knoxville, Tennessee, Camp Nelson's distance from the Gap and Knoxville, combined with lack of railroads and the weather, hampered the Union advance.
Its drawbacks as a well situated supply depot led General William Tecumseh Sherman to prioritize Camp Nelson to take a major role in training 10,000 black soldiers who volunteered there for the U.S. Colored Troops. He advocated this role in response to overall Union commander Ulysses S. Grant who visited Camp Nelson in January 1864. Grant had observed the inadequacies in the overland supply routes employed and leaned toward abandoning it entirely. Despite Grant's misgivings, Camp Nelson continued supplying major battles in 1864 such as Saltville VA I and Saltville VA II, as well as Atlanta for which the site provided 10,000 horses.
Recognizing that the Camp Nelson supply depot and the nearby Hickman Bridge were valuable targets for Confederate raider General John Hunt Morgan, Union forces geared up for attacks in July 1863 and June 1864. The most serious threat was mid-June 1864, whereupon Brig. General Speed S. Fry called upon volunteers from among civilian employees. Six hundred were armed and performed guard duty at the northern fortifications around the clock for 6 days. Major C. E. Compton said that due to these civilians, “the depot was saved from capture and destruction.”
Kentucky was one of four slaveholding states not joining the 11 other slaveholding southern states in forming the Confederate States of America which was in a rebellion rooted in decades of disputes over slavery. Kentucky blacks, enslaved and not, men and women, majorly contributed to the Union war effort in Kentucky initially as laborers, but ultimately as soldiers in infantry, artillery, and cavalry.