Camp Andy Johnson

Camp Andy Johnson was a Union recruiting camp founded in August 1861 east of Barbourville by East Tennessee Unionists Samuel Powhattan Carter and James Carter. The Carter brothers chose Barbourville because it was a safe location, since Tennessee Unionists were not safe in Confederate Tennessee, and men trying to reach the camp had to elude patrols set up to stop the flow of men leaving Tennessee for Kentucky. Though its exact location may never be known, it is generally accepted to have stood on what is today the Union College campus. The camp lacked basic equipment, with shortages of weapons, cooking utensils, adequate shoes, clothing, blankets, and provisions, and the men lived in temporary shelters of brush and rough huts built from whatever was available. Despite these hardships, the men wanted to join the Union army and free their families from Confederate oppression. Camp Andy Johnson existed for only about a month, but during that time more than 1,000 men made the journey from East Tennessee to Barbourville to enlist, forming the core of the First and Second East Tennessee Infantry Regiments, which served throughout the Civil War. The camp was named for Senator Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, the only senator from a seceding state who remained loyal, and who later became the 17th President of the United States.

Barbourville, Kentucky · United States