160th Camp Nelson Anniversary Commemoration

 

Living historians portraying the 21st Massachusetts Infantry at the 160th Anniversary of the Knoxville Campaign at Camp Nelson National Monument on August 12, 2023.

NPS

Camp Nelson 1865

The US Army established Camp Nelson on April 29, 1863. Over the next three years, the site served as a fortified supply depot, hospital, recruitment and training center, and refugee camp. The National Park Service (NPS) commemorates the 160th Camp Nelson (2023-26) with a series of special events, programs, and multi-media presentations!

All programs are free and open to the public.

 

Camp Nelson National Monument 3rd Annual Summer Ranger Series

Library of Congress and University of Kentucky

3rd Annual Summer Ranger Series

Join the NPS for the 3rd Annual Summer Ranger Series at Camp Nelson National Monument. The summer programs feature the 4th Annual History at Sunset series, the 1st Annula Freedom Day Festival (June 21st), and special events marking the 160th Anniversary of Camp Nelson (July 26th).

The programs will be hosted at Camp Nelson National Monument and other sites throughout Kentucky managed by our partners and community organizations and will occur May through July 2025!

1st Annual Freedom Day Festival

Saturday, June 21st (10:00 am - 4:00 pm)
Schedule and lineup to be announced soon.

History at Sunset

The 4th Annual History at Sunset series returns in May 2025!

The 2025 Lineup features special programs which mark the 160th Anniversary of Camp Nelson in 1865. The series features 3 programs (May-July) starting at 7:00 pm at the park and are free and open to the public.

Saturday, May 31st: "We Will Meet Again": US Colored Troops and the End of the Civil War

Friday, June 20th: Dr. Brian Matthew Jordan, "Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War"

Saturday, July 26th: Campfire Program for 160th Anniversary (TBA)

160th Anniversary of Camp Nelson

Saturday, July 26th
Schedule and lineup to be announced soon.


Camp Nelson National Monument
6614 Danville Road Loop 2
Nicholasville, KY 40356

 

Grave of Moses Haskins, 114th US Colored Infantry, Hall Cemetery in Nicholasville, KY

NPS (SP)

Hall Cemetery Wayside Dedication

DATE:
The event has been rescheduled from March 1, 2025, to another date this spring. We'll confirm the date as soon as possible.

The Camp Nelson Preservation and Education Foundation is unveiling a new interpretive wayside at Hall Cemetery TBD. The cemetery is the site of the Home for Colored Refugees and the final resting place for US Colored Troops [USCT] and their families and descendants.

The Camp Nelson Foundation is requesting that all attendees meet near the Fee Memorial Church, located southwest of Camp Nelson National Monument Visitor Center off US-27 and Hall Road. From there, visitors can carpool or walk to the cemetery. The parking area north of the Fee Memorial Church is at the intersection of Hall Road and Church Street.

 

107th US Colored Infantry, organized at Louisville, Kentucky in 1864, stand in front of a guardhouse at Fort Corcoran in Northern Virginia (Defenses of Washington).

Library of Congress

The Unchartered Road to Freedom

After the Army of the Ohio’s successful liberation of East Tennessee, the US Army nearly abandoned Camp Nelson as fortified supply depot in March 1864. However, the army’s controversial decision to organize, recruit, and train US Colored Troops [USCT] at Camp Nelson and other centers in Kentucky sparked the destruction of slavery in the Bluegrass State.

Learn more about USCT HERE and African American Refugees HERE.

 

US Sanitary Commission Soldiers' Home at Camp Nelson during the Civil War.

National Archives and Records Administration

Army of Liberation

Click here to learn about the formation of the Army of the Ohio and its operations in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee over the course of 1863. The new army was organized to liberate Unionists in East Tennessee from Confederate occupation and it would ultimately achieve that objective, but it would require marching far and fighting hard. The 21st Massachusetts Infantry was only one of many regiments in the Army of the Ohio, but the experiences of its members reveal both the hardships and triumphs of the 1863 campaign.

 

Oliver Perry House (White House) at Camp Nelson National Monument.

NPS

Civil War 160th in 60

The National Park Service (NPS) commemorates the 160th Anniversary of Camp Nelson (2023-26) in a brand-new video series: Civil War 160th in 60!

The special presentations take viewers to battlefields and historic sites across the National Park Service System to highlight the stories and individuals connected to Camp Nelson during the Civil War. The short 1-2 minutes videos will premiere on the Camp Nelson National Monument Facebook page and will be featured here!