Former Slaves Became Union Soldiers and Built a New Life at This Kentucky Military Base

Camp Nelson, Kentucky

This camp started simple enough. The Union needed a supply hub, so they built one along the Kentucky River.

Nobody planned for what happened next: thousands of freedom seekers, newly formed Black regiments, and a community that defied everything the South stood for.

Here’s how Camp Nelson became more than anyone expected.

A Union Supply Depot

Camp Nelson fueled the Union war machine from 1863 to 1865. Quartermasters stockpiled ammunition, uniforms, medical supplies, and food.

In August 1863, Burnside’s 25,000-man Army of the Ohio marched through Camp Nelson en route to Tennessee.

They brought thousands of horses and hundreds of wagons loaded with supplies.

For the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, Camp Nelson provided 10,000 horses to General William T. Sherman’s forces.

Kentucky’s Largest USCT Recruitment Center

Camp Nelson became Kentucky’s primary recruitment site for Black soldiers in spring 1864.

The United States Colored Troops (USCT) consisted of African American enlisted men led by white officers.

Kentucky opposed Black enlistment longer than any Union state. Initially, only free Black men or enslaved men with owner permission could join.

Military necessity eventually changed policy. By June 1864, the Union Army accepted all able-bodied Black men of military age without owner consent.

Eight USCT regiments formed at Camp Nelson, including the 5th and 6th Cavalry, the 114th, 116th, 119th, and 124th Infantry, and the 12th and 13th Heavy Artillery.

Escaping Slavery Through Military Service

Enslaved men walked for days to reach Camp Nelson. They traveled at night through woods and fields to avoid slave patrols and hostile whites.

In May 1864, 250 men from Danville walked 16 miles to enlist. Angry mobs pelted them with stones and fired pistols at them during their journey.

Peter Bruner walked 41 miles from Irvine in a single day in July 1864. Upon arrival, he told officers, I came to fight the rebels and I wanted a gun.

Sergeant Elijah Marrs led 27 men from Simpsonville. After surviving multiple attacks, they reached Camp Nelson and enlisted in the 12th USCT Heavy Artillery.

The Refugee Crisis Begins

Wives and children followed men to Camp Nelson despite having no legal protection.

Unlike soldiers who gained freedom upon enlistment, their families remained legally enslaved under Kentucky law.

Refugees built crude huts from discarded lumber, canvas, and mud. Women washed soldiers’ uniforms and cooked for pay, receiving no official rations from the Army.

Camp Commander Brigadier General Speed Fry, a Kentucky native sympathetic to slaveholders, issued seven expulsion orders between July and November 1864.

After each expulsion, families returned to Camp Nelson.

With nowhere else to go and facing violence if caught, they risked punishment to remain near their soldier husbands and fathers.

The November 1864 Expulsion

On November 22-25, 1864, General Fry ordered the forced removal of all African American refugees.

Temperatures dropped well below freezing as winter arrived early. Soldiers loaded approximately 400 women and children onto wagons at gunpoint.

Many people had only the clothes they wore. After removing the refugees, soldiers burned their huts and destroyed all building materials to prevent their return.

Private Joseph Miller of the 124th USCT Infantry later testified:

I told him that my wife and children had nowhere to go. He told me it did not make a difference; he had orders.

Of the 400 expelled refugees, 102 died from exposure and disease within weeks.

Public Outcry and Policy Change

Camp Quartermaster Captain Theron Hall protested the expulsions.

He collected testimony from soldiers whose families suffered and sent reports to General Stephen Burbridge, Kentucky’s military commander.

Reverend John Fee of the American Missionary Association alerted Northern newspapers.

The New York Tribune published a front-page story on November 28, 1864 denouncing the treatment of soldiers’ families.

On December 2, General Burbridge ordered Fry to stop expulsions immediately and readmit all refugees to Camp Nelson.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton issued a direct order from Washington: build permanent shelter for all refugee families at government expense.

The Home for Colored Refugees

Military officials authorized construction of the Home for Colored Refugees in December 1864.

Captain Hall supervised the project with assistance from Reverend Gabriel Burdett, an African American soldier and minister.

Workers built 100 duplex cottages, each containing two 16×16-foot rooms. Each room housed up to 12 people. Construction proceeded at three cottages per day.

The refugee home included a mess hall, hospital, school building, and administrative offices. By April 1865, over 1,200 people lived in the refugee home.

As news spread about the safe haven, hundreds more arrived weekly.

The cottages stood in neat rows along planned streets, creating the first organized community for Kentucky’s newly freed people.

Congressional Freedom for Families

The Camp Nelson tragedy forced Congress to address the status of soldiers’ families.

On March 3, 1865, lawmakers passed an act freeing the wives and children of all USCT soldiers.

This law directly undermined slavery in Kentucky, which had been exempt from the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation because it remained in the Union.

Military officials issued freedom papers to wives and children of soldiers, legally documenting their emancipation from slavery.

By July 1865, over 3,000 refugees lived at Camp Nelson. Former slaveholders could no longer legally reclaim them.

The Congressional act freed approximately 23,300 people at Camp Nelson alone, making it one of the largest emancipation sites in the United States.

Education and Community Building

A two-story schoolhouse became the centerpiece of the refugee settlement. Classes ran day and night with 600 students of all ages learning to read and write.

The American Missionary Association and Western Freedman’s Aid Commission provided teachers and books.

Many former slaves saw literacy as essential to maintaining their freedom.

In fall 1865, Reverend John Fee hired E. Belle Mitchell, making her Camp Nelson’s first African American teacher.

When white teachers refused to eat with her, Fee upheld his principles of racial equality.

Refugees formed churches, held religious services, and created mutual aid societies to support widows and orphans.

They also published a newspaper called The Camp Nelson Pioneer.

Post-War Legacy and Ariel Community

When the Civil War ended in May 1865, the War Department began closing Camp Nelson. Officials sold or dismantled most buildings by late 1866.

The Freedmen’s Bureau temporarily managed the refugee home during the transition. As federal support ended, Reverend John Fee and his wife Matilda purchased the property.

The Fees divided the land into small parcels and sold them to former refugees. About 25 families bought lots and established a community named Ariel, later renamed Hall.

Reverend Gabriel Burdett and several families left Kentucky in 1877, joining the Exoduster movement to Kansas after increasing racial violence in the South.

Visiting Camp Nelson

Camp Nelson National Monument preserves 525 acres of the original military site.

The entrance is located at 6614 Old Danville Loop Road in Nicholasville, Kentucky, 20 miles south of Lexington. Five miles of walking trails lead to restored fortifications and interpretive signs.

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