Civil War Kentucky - Hear the Battle Cry
Camp Nelson, Nicholasville, Kentucky
Camp Nelson, a supply depot for the Union Army of the Ohio, makes a great introduction to local battlefields. The quiet camp sprawls for miles, active with ghosts of the past you can almost see on the foggy horizon.
During the Civil War, this area served as the main recruiting and training center for African-American troops. Disturbingly, the camp was both a joyous place of liberation and a somber final resting place - thousands of African-American men and their families gained freedom from slavery through enlistment at this camp, but it's also punctuated with the thousands of tombstones that mark the graves of fallen soldiers.
Oliver H. Perry and his family once occupied the White House, a two-storey Greek revival at the top of the hill that now houses the Camp Nelson Preservation Office. During the War, it served as lodgings for the quartermaster and commissary officers. For the inquisitive visitor looking for something a little unusual, swing by the White House in October for a tea with the dead, hosted by a local medium with visitors from the beyond.
Hiking tours span the battlefields, complete with interpretive signage. During the summer months, reenactments of the war deliver a brief view of events that occurred in Civil War battle.
If you go during summer, don't miss Michael E. Crutcher's performance as civil rights and anti-slavery grandfather Frederick Douglass. Crutcher's spellbinding interpretation of the former women's rights activist and advisor to Abraham Lincoln will captivate and catapult you back to a time of limited freedom in the South.
Perryville Battlefield, Perryville, Kentucky
In October 1862, Confederates rolled into Perryville to position themselves between the Union Army and a supply depot in nearby Bryantville. Today, Perryville Battlefield offers visitors a glimpse into the deadly fight that claimed the lives of 1,500 young soldiers.
Visit the Confederate Cemetery at the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, a mass grave built on former farmland. Many of the troops buried there remain unidentified, since soldiers didn't begin wearing dog tags until World War I.
Take a moment to visit the museum - inside, artifacts and a map of the area demonstrate the scope of the battle. But for a true grasp of the immense size of the place, trek the seven miles of interpretive hiking trails. “To understand the battlefield at Perryville,” says Christopher Kolakowski, Executive Director of the Perryville Enhancement Project, “you got to get out here and hoof it.”
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