Camp Nelson National Monument ⓘ

Among the hundreds of buildings at Camp Nelson during the Civil War were various hospital facilities. The main facility was the Nelson US General Hospital, but the base also included separate measles and smallpox hospitals, a convalescent hospital, a prison hospital, an employee hospital, and a hospital at the Home for Colored Refugees. With all of these different facilities, Camp Nelson contained one of the largest military medical complexes in Kentucky. The General Hospital was substantial, comprising 10 wards (each with 70 beds), an office and dispensary, a commissary, eight nurses’ rooms, two dining rooms, two cook houses, and a steam laundry. This facility was staffed by a chief surgeon, four to seven assistant surgeons, and 50 attendants (nurses). The General Hospital served US Army soldiers, both white and Black, who suffered from illnesses and wounds in the Department of the Ohio. Captain Theron E. Hall , the Assistant Quartermaster of Camp Nelson, provided an overview of the General Hospital:

These Hospitals are situated on a beautiful lawn near the center of Camp, on the side of a hill so as to be entirely protected from the fire of an assailing force. A grove of trees in front imparts to them a pleasant appearance and affords an agreeable retreat for the inmates who are convalescent enough to enjoy such advantages. They are filled up with hot and cold baths in each ward, also with water closets, etc.

An official inspection of Camp Nelson in May 1865 reported that the General Hospital was “a well conducted and highly creditable establishment.” The Nelson US General Hospital was located toward the southern end of Camp Nelson, while the various other medical facilities, which were designed to serve specific groups of people residing at the military base or treat certain diseases, were scattered throughout the camp.

One of the medical facilities at Camp Nelson other than the General Hospital was the 76-tent convalescent hospital. During the Civil War, convalescents were soldiers who were no longer suffering from the severe phases of illness or wounds but were still recovering. These troops needed little attention from medical personnel and only required time to rest to fully recover from their affliction and regain the strength to return to active duty. Capt. Hall described the convalescent camp at Camp Nelson: “This Camp received convalescents from the General Hospital previous to their transfer to different Regiments. The men are quartered in tents: the only buildings here being a Dining Room, a Kitchen and Commissary.”

Camp Nelson may have had a massive hospital complex, but that did not mean that patients received effective medical care. During the Civil War era, there was still little understanding of the real causes of most diseases, and consequently reliable treatment of many illnesses was not known. Germ theory had not yet been discovered, and the importance of hygiene was little understood. For patients in wartime hospitals, it is challenging to judge what was worse, the sickness afflicting them or the so-called treatment that they received for it. Common methods were bloodletting and the administration of drugs and potions such as whiskey, turpentine, opium, mercury, and strychnine, some of which are highly dangerous toxins. It is not an understatement to say that at least two times as many soldiers died of sickness as died of battle wounds. Overcrowded conditions and poor sanitation, especially the contamination of water, were primary factors in causing high rates of disease and death in wartime encampments. Camp Nelson was no exception, with large numbers of soldiers, civilian employees, and refugees all falling victim to various diseases. The most prevalent killers were chronic diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid fever, malaria, and pneumonia. Hospital records of the General Hospital at Camp Nelson demonstrate its high death rate. For example, 229 of 1,590 patients died between January and May 1865. This is a death rate of 14.4%. With so many soldiers and other residents of Camp Nelson dying from different types of diseases during the Civil War, the military base needed places to bury them. During its three-year existence, the camp contained a total of four cemeteries. Graveyard No. 2 was the largest of the wartime cemeteries at Camp Nelson, and it was ultimately converted into Camp Nelson National Cemetery .

"U.S. Sanitary Commission, Soldier's Home," Camp Nelson Photographic Collection, 1864, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.

The US Army established the first Soldiers’ Home or Military Asylum in 1851 after the Mexican War. General Winfield Scott secured funding to establish a hospital and retirement home for wounded and disabled veterans on 225 acres in Washington D.C. Captain Theron E. Hall, who served as the chief quartermaster at Camp Nelson, oversaw the construction of three Soldiers’ Homes for the Army of the Potomac in the Eastern Theater earlier in the Civil War. He proposed the construction of a similar structure at Camp Nelson that could feed and comfortably lodge the hundreds of men that passed through the camp and that was operated by the US Sanitary Commission. Completed in March 1864, the home’s massive structure consisted of two wards connected by an expansive dining hall. The dining hall could hold up to 300 people, while the wards had a maximum occupancy of 500 people. The Home was constructed on sloped grounds, providing the space to add a second floor under the front of each ward. Under the first ward was an office, sleeping room, sanitary supply room, and storeroom for the home. Under the second ward was a bathing room containing four private bathtubs supplied by double pipes, with hot and cold water, as well as a spacious baggage room. Behind the dining hall were several buildings that contained a laundry room, wash house (capacity: 100), kitchen (cooking power for 500), commissary, and large pantry. In the front of the S oldiers’ Home was a large courtyard which was decorated by a fountain, sodded ground, and tree-lined pathways, all encased by a fence made of cedar posts and planks.

The Soldiers' Home was still under construction on February 20, 1864, when the building was first used to shelter 40 white East Tennessee refugees en route to Cincinnati, OH. The Home did not serve as a permanent haven for refugees, both Black and White, but did shelter refugees who were willing and able to relocate to northern cities, especially East Tennessee civilians. The Soldiers’ Home has few documented cases of housing refugees, but it did provide them with other forms of assistance. Once reaching Camp Nelson, Black recruits enlisting in the USCT often worried about the safety of their wives, children, and elderly parents, who remained enslaved . Agents were appointed at the Soldiers’ Home to write hundreds of letters relaying “ stories of trouble at home [and] wrongs committed on their [families], in hope of procuring redress .” Dedicated agents and abolitionists, such as Abisha Schofield of the American Missionary Association, worked tirelessly to rectify these claims.

By the time the Soldiers’ Home was closed on July 25, 1866, it had “ entertained 95,337 soldiers, and furnished them 286,656 meals, and 102,521 lodgings .” However, the Home's impact extended far beyond the soldiers it served. Thomas D. Butler, in his report to the sanitary commission, acknowledged that the official figures did not encompass the substantial number of soldiers' families and other individuals in need who also found solace and assistance within its walls. The Home's final act witnessed all of its equipment and some furnishing donated to "the camp of colored refugees," formed as the community Arial [Hall] at the Home for Colored Refugees after the Civil War. The Soldiers' Home, like Camp Nelson, evolved over the course of the Civil War. From its initial function to provide food and housing for people passing through the Camp, it later provided aid for white Unionists escaping Confederate occupation and African Americans fleeing enslavement.

Museum exhibit highlighting the lives of refugees who came to Camp Nelson seeking freedom and opportunity during the Civil War. NPS Visitor Center and Museum Through museum exhibits and a short film, the visitor center provides an orientation to the historic events that unfolded at Camp Nelson. Objects on display and museum exhibits provide a window into the role Camp Nelson played during its height as a military installation, supply depot, hospital, recruitment center, and refugee camp.

The Oliver Perry House is the only building at Camp Nelson National Monument that dates to the Civil War. NPS Oliver Perry House The Oliver Perry House [White House] is an original home built in the mid-1850s and was used as US Army officer quarters while the property was part of Camp Nelson (1863-1866). The home is presently undergoing renovation work and is not open.

The reconstructed barracks building offers a glimpse of soldier life at Camp Nelson. NPS Reconstructed US Army Barracks Sitting near the site of the original barracks building, the reconstructed barracks include exhibits describing the military service and experience of United States Colored Troops throughout the war, and the biographies of individual soldiers who enlisted at Camp Nelson. The exhibit is open from 9:30am - 4:30pm (closed between 12:00-1:00pm for lunch) on a seasonal basis, as staffing allows. Visitors can check at the front desk to find out the availability of the barracks exhibit for the day.

Reconstructed Fort Putnam shows the Civil War appearance of earthworks. NPS Walking Trails Over five miles of hiking trails allow visitors to experience first-hand the rolling pastoral landscape of Camp Nelson National Monument. This trail system and numerous interpretive markers provide an opportunity to explore earthworks and fortifications that protected Camp Nelson and allow visitors to walk in the footsteps of soldiers in order to gain an understanding of the sites' significant role during the Civil War.

The Hall community was created by people transitioning from enslavement to citizenship. NPS Hall Community The community of Ariel (now Hall) grew out of the Home for Colored Refugees after Camp Nelson itself was closed and disassembled. After the Civil War, the community of former USCT soldiers and their families grew to include homes, stores, churches and Arial Academy. While there are no buildings that date to the Home for Colored Refugee-era, there is a small church built in 1912 and named in honor of John Fee who dedicated his life to creating educational opportunities for African Americans. Today there are still descendents of USCT soldiers who call the Hall community home. The Hall site has limited parking and there are no visitor or restroom facilities.

Camp Nelson National Cemetery is administered by the US Department of Veterans Affairs. US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Camp Nelson National Cemetery In June 1866, Camp Nelson U.S. Army Depot was closed, but Camp Nelson National Cemetery , with over 2,400 Federal dead, was created that same year. The cemetery is located adjacent to the national monument and is open daily from dawn to dusk.

(859) 881-5716 The phone is usually answered 7-days per week, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Voice messages are checked regularly.