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

2025 Winter & Spring

Join the NPS for special programs this fall and winter at Camp Nelson National Monument! The calendar features a diverse array of events, including the 5th Annual Winter Lecture Series starting in January 2026.
All events are free and open to the public.

5th Annual Winter Lecture Series
January - March 2026 (Saturdays)
11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Join the NPS for the 5th Annual Winter Lecture Series at Camp Nelson National Monument! The special programs feature guest speakers who present on a variety of topic related to the Civil War Era. The presentations take place at the park's Reconstructed Barracks on select Saturdays. The programs are free and open to the public.

January 17, 2026:
An Army of Benevolence: The US Sanitary Commission at Camp Nelson

At the outbreak of the Civil War while thousands of soldiers joined the US Army, even more women and civilians joined together to support them. Members of the US Sanitary Commission would go on to serve on the battlefield, in hospitals, and at military camps like Camp Nelson

Ava Goetz, Lead Interpretive Park Ranger at Camp Nelson National Monument, delivers the program.


February 21, 2026:
Women and Landscapes of Power at Camp Nelson

Between 1864 and 1872, African American refugees of Camp Nelson used their agency to take control of their lives post-emancipation. By using the landscape, and the resources within the army base, women created food, money, education, and safety for themselves and their families.

Dr. Sarah Stapleton, Historian and Administrative Assistant at Camp Nelson National Monument, delivers the program.


March 28, 2026:
"As Humanity Will Permit": The Closing of Camp Nelson in 1865-66

The US Army officially deactivated Camp Nelson in 1866 after the Civil War. The base was dismantled, the materials of war were removed, and most US soldiers were mustered out of service. However, the future for US Colored Troops soldiers and their families and other recently emancipated people was uncertain, precarious, and deadly as unofficial reconstruction emerges in post-war Kentucky.

Steve T. Phan, Chief of Interpretation, Education, and Visitor Services at Camp Nelson National Monument, delivers the program.


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

Campfire Program: From Kentucky to the Keyes: Camp Nelson Soldiers and Dry Tortugas National Park
Saturday, April 4, 2026
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Join the National Park Service (NPS) for the first evening program of the year at Camp Nelson National Monument starting at 7:00 pm on Saturday, April 4, 2026!

NPS staff will explore the experience of 17 US Army soldiers who served in units organized at Camp Nelson and were sentenced to hard labor and imprisonment at Fort Jefferson in Florida during the Civil War. Today, the masonry fort is managed by the NPS as part of Dry Tortugas National Park.

The campfire program is free and open to the public and will take place in the field adjacent to the Visitor Center and Museum. Visitors should bring camping chairs.

For more information, please contact the park at 859-881-5716 or you can e-mail us.

 

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!