In this paper I will provide an historical overview for Camp Nelson, a Civil War U.S. Army supply depot, recruitment and training camp (initially for just white troops, but after spring 1864 for Black troops as well), hospital, and refugee camp (for Tennessee white families and later Black families). The camp was founded in spring 1863 as a supply depot, hospital, and training camp and eventually covered over 4000 acres, had 300 buildings, thousands of tents, employed one to two thousand employees, and housed two to eight thousand soldiers. In spring 1864 the camp changed dramatically as it became one of the nations largest recruitment and training camps for U.S. Colored Troops and a large (eventually over 4000) refugee camp for the USCT families. While the enslaved men were emancipated upon enlistment their wives and children had to survive a dramatic expulsion before they were emancipated by a Congressional Act.

In May 1864 enslaved men, women, and children escaped slavery to reach Camp Nelson, where they hoped to attain their freedom. For the men, they earned their freedom by joining the U.S. Colored Troops. For the women and children, the passage to freedom was more complex and longer. Initially they set up an unofficial camp within Camp Nelson without permission and attempted to adapt and survive. They were removed from camp by the army numerous times, but kept returning until late November 1864, when they were expelled and their huts and tents were destroyed. A month later they were allowed into the new Home for Colored Refugees and in March 1865 emancipated. Their adaptation to Camp Nelson, including settlement patterns, housing construction, family structure, religion/spirituality, clothing, work, and foodways, will be investigated in this talk.

In November 1864 African American women and children who had come to Camp Nelson to escape slavery, often to join husbands and fathers who had joined the U.S. Army, were expelled from camp. Following negative publicity about this expulsion, the U.S. Army created the Home for Colored Refugees, which eventually housed over 3,000 persons. John G. Fee, founder of Berea College, and many staff from the American Missionary Association, provided assistance. The structure of the community evolved over time, somewhat as a compromise between typical army procedures, and the needs and wishes of the refugees. Following the end of the Civil War, many of the refugees remained, forming a new community. Some descendants remain today and parts of the community are within Camp Nelson National Monument. This paper will summarize documentary and oral history information and highlight findings from archaeological survey and excavation at the Home for Colored Refugees.

On 25 January 1865, Confederate guerrillas ambushed Company E of the 5th United States Colored Cavalry near Simpsonville, Kentucky, killing 22 African American Union soldiers. Although the episode was only briefly noted in military records, it was chronicled in local newspapers and preserved in the Bryan family’s oral history. The precise location of the hastily dug mass grave, however, faded from communal memory. A 2009 geophysical survey of a nearby African American cemetery did not locate the mass burial. Renewed collaboration among the landowner, a local historian, and archaeologists later uncovered a 1936 highway map indicating a another prospective site.

This paper reports on recent investigations at that location, integrating oral histories, archival research, ground-penetrating radar, and drone-based surveys. The project illustrates how interdisciplinary, community-based research can recover and honor neglected histories of racial violence, Black military service, and the enduring power of local knowledge.

The Camp Nelson Military Prison (15Js78) in Jessamine County, Kentucky, was constructed in 1863 to detain both civilian and military inmates. The detention facility consisted of a jail enclosed by a stockade and was surrounded by several support structures. Archaeological investigations have identified features associated with the jail, stockade, and activity areas that have broadened our understanding of the facility, including structure locations, the construction and configuration of the stockade, as well as the material culture and diet of the guards and prisoners.

Investigations at the Camp Nelson Civil War Depot included excavations at the site of the William Berkeley sutler’s store where more than 2,500 well-preserved animal remains were encountered and at least 17 animal taxa were identified. The sutler’s store faunal collection provides evidence for animals that were consumed, skeletal portions represented, taphonomic processes, and local sanitation conditions. Comparisons to collections of animal remains from other contexts at Camp Nelson may indicate differences in foodways.

In this paper I revisit the archaeobotanical research conducted at Camp Nelson thirty years ago. At the site level, an intensive water flotation effort allowed comparisons between high status officer and lower status soldier contexts. The Phaseolus bean came to the forefront as a story of continuity between Native American plant use and Euro-American dietary preferences. Decades ago I promoted the idea of the “lowly bean,” a concept that must now be reconsidered. The Civil War produced massive sociocultural upheaval, and in Kentucky represented the end of one plant use system and the beginning of another. Finally, the role of Camp Nelson in highlighting the power and potential of archaeobotany in historic archaeology, including comparisons with archival letters and documents, is discussed.

Over multiple field seasons, magnetic gradiometer surveys were conducted at Camp Nelson to assist with designing test excavation strategies. This included investigations at the military prison complex and the sutler store area, which comprised part of the commercial district at Camp Nelson. Features revealed in the magnetometer survey and confirmed by excavations include a large cellar associated with the South Cook House and Quarters/Hospital south of the prison stockade and features associated with multiple structures in the sutler store area. Geophysical methods and results are presented. While only a small portion of Camp Nelson has been examined using geophysical techniques, conducting a large-scale, comprehensive survey of the site would greatly enhance future research efforts and aid in the preservation of its archaeological resources.