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Collection: Museum: University of St Andrews

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Amendment to the Constitution is ratified by three-fourths of states, abolishing slavery in the United States. Kentucky ratified the amendment in 1976.

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.”

Surrender at Appomattox Court House. In the weeks that followed, Confederate military forces surrendered across the country, ending the Civil War. Camp Nelson continues to operate as a military base and refugee center.

As a direct result of the November 1864 expulsion of refugees, Congress passes legislation, emancipating the wives and children of USCT soldiers.

Massacre at Simpsonville, Kentucky. Twenty-two soldiers from Company E of the 5th US Colored Cavalry are killed by Confederate guerrillas while driving cattle from Camp Nelson to Louisville. Many of these recruits were formerly enslaved, and many came from Shelby County and the area near where the massacre took place.

The US Army reverses its policy and allows African American refugees into Camp Nelson. Capt. Theron Hall and Rev. John G. Fee open the “Home for Colored Refugees,” which included wooden cottages, education and religious services, and a hospital.

The US Army, by order of Brig. Gen. Speed S. Fry, expels over 400 Black refugees, mostly women and children, from Camp Nelson. 102 people died of exposure and illness in the immediate aftermath.

President Abraham Lincoln is reelected, Kentucky is one of three states won by Lincoln’s opponent.

322 Black men enlist with the United States Colored Troops at Camp Nelson; the single largest recruitment day in the camp’s history. Between 1864 and 1865, over 10,000 men enlisted with the USCTs at Camp Nelson.

Black refugees are first expelled from Camp Nelson. The US Army forcibly removed Black refugees on eight separate occasions through November 1864.

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