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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.

General Orders No. 20 formalizes African American enlistment in Kentucky and authorizes the creation of eight training centers for United States Colored Troops (USCT), including at Camp Nelson.

Any enslaved man is allowed to enlist in the US Army without permission from their enslaver.

General Orders No. 34 permits African American men (free and enslaved) to enlist with US military forces in Kentucky, with their enslaver’s permission.

A movement is begun in Louisville, KY, to erect a monument to the Union soldiers of Kentucky. The movement succeeds in raising funds to lay the monument’s foundations in Cave Hill Cemetery and a dedication service is held later in the year. Efforts to finish the monument are halted when the federal government consolidated Cave Hill as a National Cemetery in 1867.

The last of approximately 1,900 impressed, enslaved Black laborers are discharged from Camp Nelson at the end of the month.

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