Camp Nelson National Monument

Camp Nelson in southern Jessamine County, Kentucky, began in 1863 as a Union supply depot and training ground positioned by Hickman Bridge and protected by steep river and creek palisades. Though meant to support operations toward the Cumberland Gap and eastern Tennessee, its greater importance emerged in Black history. Enslaved men were first forced into military labor there, and later more than 10,000 Black recruits passed through as the site became Kentucky’s largest recruitment and training center for U.S. Colored Troops, founding eight regiments. Camp Nelson also became a refuge for escaping families, whose expulsion in 1864 caused deadly suffering and helped prompt creation of the Home for Colored Refugees.

Kentucky · United States