White Kentucky Soldiers at Camp Nelson

Gravestone for Pvt. Hiscal Napier of the 47th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. Napier died of disease at Camp Nelson in April 1864 and is now buried in Camp Nelson National Cemetery.

NPS

Bluegrass Boys in Blue

In consequence of the official intelligence of the death of the President of the U.S…a gun will be fired every half hour beginning at sunrise April 16^th and ending at sunset the Commanding officer of Battery E 1^st Ky Light Artillery is charged with the execution of the above Order.
– General Orders No. 42 issued from Headquarters at Camp Nelson on April 15, 1865

Before Camp Nelson became a major recruiting center for Black Kentuckians in 1864, three units of White Kentuckians were organized at the military base in the fall and early winter of 1863.

In the second half of the Civil War, the US Army needed regiments in Kentucky and Tennessee to protect these regions, particularly the railroad lines and military facilities, from enemy raids. Two of the regiments specifically formed and used to complete this duty were raised at Camp Nelson – the 47th and 49th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. Mounted infantrymen were soldiers who rode on horses instead of marching on foot, but unlike cavalrymen, they fought while dismounted rather than remaining on horseback. These two units allowed local White men in Kentucky to support the Union war effort but also remain close to their homes and families in the state. For over a year, the mounted infantry from Camp Nelson performed guard and patrol duty throughout Kentucky. The 47^th Kentucky Mounted Infantry was involved in battles around Cynthiana in mid-June 1864 that defeated a Confederate force led by the famed commander John H. Morgan and ended the enemy raid into Kentucky.

The third Kentucky unit mustered in at Camp Nelson was Battery E of the 1st Kentucky Light Artillery. While mainly assigned to garrison duty at Camp Nelson and Lexington, Battery E did participate in a raid on Southwest Virginia in December 1864. Battery E fought alongside several of the other regiments organized at Camp Nelson, including the 8^th Tennessee Cavalry and the 5^th and 6^th US Colored Cavalry. Battery E was at Camp Nelson when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, and it was ordered to fire a cannon salute in honor of the fallen president.