Event: August 11th to 13th 2023 at Camp Nelson National Monument, Nicholasville, KY.

Will have public interpretation for visitors to Camp Nelson National Monument on Saturday and Sunday.

Brief History:
On March 25, 1863 Major General Ambrose Burnside took command of the reorganized Department of the Ohio. General Burnside’s objective was to capture and hold eastern Tennessee. This area was very important not only for its Union loyal sentiments, but its logistical benefits.

In April 1863, General Burnside sought a location to consolidate troops and supplies in central Kentucky. Located along the Lexington-Danville Turnpike and adjacent to the Kentucky River (a main waterway through central Kentucky), the camp was situated along major lines of transportation and near the cities of Nicholasville, Lexington, and Richmond, Ky.

Camp Nelson would become a US Army depot, hospital, and a refugee camp for white Unionists fleeing Confederates in eastern Tennessee. In 1864 it would become a major recruitment center and training camp for African American men.

We will be portraying the 21st Massachusetts who marched into Camp Nelson on August 12th 1863. These men who had endured places like the Burnside Bridge at Antietam are assigned to the west to continue their service at this Bastion of the Bluegrass and took part of the Army of the Ohio’s offensive that liberated East Tennessee in September 1863.

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