Event: First major celebration of July 4th by Kentucky’s African American community at Camp Nelson. Sgt William A. Warfield, of the 119th US Colored Infantry pronounced the event evidence of “an age of wonders”: “to see so many thousands, who a year ago were slaves, congregate in the heart of a slave State and celebrate the day sacred to the cause of freedom, ‘with none to molest or make afraid,’ was a grand spectacle. It was the first time we have ever been permitted to celebrate the Nation’s Day.”