[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 132, 115th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
Proclamation 9811 of October 26, 2018

Establishment of the Camp Nelson National Monument

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Initially established as a Union Army supply depot and hospital, Camp
Nelson, located in Jessamine County, Kentucky, was a key site of
emancipation for African American soldiers and a refugee camp for their
families during the Civil War. Camp Nelson was one of the largest Union
Army recruitment centers for African American Union soldiers, then known
as United States Colored Troops. During the war, thousands of enslaved
African Americans risked their lives escaping to Camp Nelson, out of a
deep desire for freedom and the right of self-determination. Today, the
site is one of the best-preserved landscapes and archeological sites
associated with United States Colored Troops recruitment and the refugee
experiences of African American slaves seeking freedom during the Civil
War.
Between 1863 and 1865, Camp Nelson served as a bustling Union Army
encampment, hospital, and supply depot. From it, the Union Army
dispatched soldiers, horses, and other supplies to support military
operations at the Cumberland Gap and the frontlines in Tennessee and
Virginia. During this time, enslaved individuals sought to gain

[[Page 5876]]

their freedom by fleeing to Camp Nelson and other Union military
installations in Kentucky. They placed their hope in places like Camp
Nelson even though slavery was then legal in Kentucky. The Emancipation
Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, to
free slaves from bondage, applied only to jurisdictions in which the
people were in rebellion against the United States. As a strategically
important border State, Kentucky had remained loyal to the Union and,
therefore, was not within the proclamation's scope.
Kentucky was the last State in the Union to allow the enlistment of
African American men. Beginning in April of 1864, however, the State
allowed free African American men and enslaved men who had the express
permission of their owners to enlist. Notwithstanding these limited
avenues to enlistment, hundreds of enslaved men risked their lives
fleeing slavery and arrived at Camp Nelson during the spring of 1864,
with the goal of enlisting in the Union Army in order to gain their
freedom and to fight for the freedom of others.
As the pressure to meet recruitment demands grew, the Union Army was
forced to allow all able-bodied men who were of age to join the Army.
Kentucky, in particular, was unable to meet its draft quotas with only
white soldiers. In the summer after enslaved men began to arrive at Camp
Nelson, in June of 1864, more than 500 United States Colored Troops were
mustered into service. In July, a record 1,370 new African American
troops enlisted in the Union Army. On the single biggest recruitment
day--July 25, 1864--322 African American men enlisted at Camp Nelson. By
the end of the Civil War, more than 23,000 African Americans had joined
the Union Army in Kentucky, making it the second largest contributor of
United States Colored Troops of any State. More than 10,000 of these
troops enlisted or were trained at Camp Nelson. Eight United States
Colored Troop regiments were founded at Camp Nelson and five other such
regiments were stationed there during the war.
Many enslaved men who arrived at Camp Nelson in 1864 were accompanied by
their families. Although enlisting in the Union Army allowed men to gain
their own freedom, it did not have the same effect for their family
members, who often remained slaves in the eyes of the law and struggled
to support and defend themselves. African Americans at Camp Nelson who
did not enlist built refugee encampments. And as United States Colored
Troop recruitment continued to climb, so did the population of freedom-
seeking refugees at Camp Nelson, despite efforts by the Union Army to
break them up and return the enslaved individuals to their owners.
The Union Army's efforts to remove refugees from Camp Nelson culminated
in the tragic, forced expulsion of approximately 400 African American
women and children during frigid weather in November of 1864, causing
the deaths of 102 refugees. That tragedy brought national attention and
public support to the plight of the refugees at Camp Nelson. In
response, the Union Army established the Camp Nelson Home for Colored
Refugees in January 1865, creating a safe haven for the wives and
children of enlisted African American soldiers in Jessamine County,
Kentucky. Influenced by these events, the Congress took action in March
of 1865 by emancipating the wives and children of any enlisted member of
the United States Colored Troops. This law protected the refugees at
Camp Nelson. It also provided an additional incentive for African
American men to enlist in the Union Army, and caused re

[[Page 5877]]

cruitment to steadily climb through the end of the war. In fact, as of
the spring of 1865, Camp Nelson and the refugee home were at their
largest, with thousands of new recruits, Union troops, refugees, and
civilians working and living in hundreds of structures.
In 1865, after the end of the war, the Department of War began the
process of closing Camp Nelson. It took inventory of existing buildings
and equipment and prepared to dismantle and abandon the camp. Many of
Camp Nelson's military buildings, all of which were built as temporary
structures to be used during wartime, were either sold and moved, or
dismantled. Only a few structures, like the Oliver Perry house, which
predated the camp's establishment, and the Camp Nelson Home for Colored
Refugees, were left intact following the closure.
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, more commonly
referred to as the ``Freedmen's Bureau,''; assumed management of the
Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees during the post-war transition.
Many of the African Americans who lived at Camp Nelson had envisioned
that the refugee home would be a center for a thriving post-war African
American community. The policy of the Freedmen's Bureau, however, was to
remove all refugees from military installations. By October of 1865, all
of the former Civil War refugee camps in Kentucky and Tennessee had been
closed, with the exception of Camp Nelson. While the refugee home
officially closed in 1866, approximately 250 individuals stayed and
sustained a community there, which today is known as Hall, Kentucky. And
although no original buildings remain from the Camp Nelson Home for
Colored Refugees, the descendants of refugees and soldiers maintain
connections to Camp Nelson, and some still live in the Hall community.
The history of Camp Nelson is now told primarily through archival and
military records, as well as rich archeological evidence from the site.
The well-preserved in situ archeological resources associated with the
military installation, recruitment camp, and refugee home provide robust
opportunities for researchers to understand the African American
experience during the Civil War. The broader Camp Nelson archeological
record also provides opportunities for research and scholarship related
to military history, race, identity, and gender during the Civil War--a
pivotal chapter of the Nation's history. The preserved archeological
resources at the sites of Camp Nelson and the Camp Nelson Home for
Colored Refugees provide insight into what was once a place where
formerly enslaved individuals experienced freedom and self-
determination, and struggled to create a sense of home, amidst the chaos
of war. Camp Nelson reminds us of the courage and determination
possessed by formerly enslaved African Americans as they fought for
their freedom.
WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (the
``Antiquities Act'';), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to
declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and
prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific
interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the
Federal Government to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part
thereof parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined to the
smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the
objects to be protected;
WHEREAS, the Camp Nelson Historic and Archeological District was
designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2016 for its national sig

[[Page 5878]]

nificance as the site of one of the Nation's largest recruitment and
training centers for African American soldiers during the Civil War, as
well as a refugee camp for the families of those African American
soldiers;
WHEREAS, Jessamine County, Kentucky, has donated to the American
Battlefield Trust fee title to the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park,
located at 6614 Danville Road, Nicholasville, Kentucky, totaling
approximately 373 acres, and the nearby property containing
archeological evidence of the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees,
totaling approximately 7 acres (collectively, the Camp Nelson site);
WHEREAS, the American Battlefield Trust has relinquished fee title to
these properties to the Federal Government;
WHEREAS, the designation of a national monument to be administered by
the National Park Service (NPS) would recognize the historic
significance of the Camp Nelson site, particularly the events that
transpired at this location during and after the Civil War, and provide
a national platform for preserving this history;
WHEREAS, the NPS intends to cooperate with Jessamine County, Kentucky,
in the preservation, interpretation, operation, and maintenance of, and
in educating about, the Camp Nelson site;
WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to preserve and protect the Camp
Nelson site, in Jessamine County, Kentucky, and the objects of historic
interest therein;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of
America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54,
United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that
are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by
the Federal Government to be the Camp Nelson National Monument
(monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as
a part thereof all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by
the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the
accompanying map entitled ``Camp Nelson National Monument,
Nicholasville, Kentucky,''; which is attached to and forms a part of
this proclamation. The reserved Federal lands and interests in lands
encompass approximately 380 acres. The boundaries described on the
accompanying map are confined to the smallest area compatible with the
proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries described
on the accompanying map are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all
forms of entry, location, selection, sale, or other disposition under
the public land laws, from location, entry, and patent under the mining
laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and
geothermal leasing.
The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights.
If the Federal Government acquires any lands or interests in lands not
owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries
described on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in lands
shall be reserved as a part of the monument, and objects identified
above that are situated upon those lands and interests in lands shall be
part of the monument, upon acquisition of ownership or control by the
Federal Government.

[[Page 5879]]

The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage the monument
through the NPS, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, consistent
with the purposes and provisions of this proclamation. The Secretary
shall prepare a management plan with full and appropriate public
involvement within 3 years of the date of this proclamation. The
management plan shall ensure that the monument fulfills the following
purposes for the benefit of present and future generations: (1) to
preserve and protect the objects of historic interest within the
monument, and (2) to interpret the objects, resources, and values
related to the Camp Nelson site. The management plan shall also set
forth the desired relationship of the monument to other related
resources, programs, and organizations, both within and outside the
National Park System.
The NPS is directed to use applicable authorities to seek to enter into
agreements with others, including Jessamine County, to address common
interests and promote management efficiencies, including provision of
visitor services, interpretation and education, establishment and care
of museum collections, and preservation of historic objects.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing
withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the national
monument shall be the dominant reservation.
Warning is hereby given that no unauthorized persons shall appropriate,
injure, destroy, or remove any feature of this monument, or locate or
settle upon any of the lands thereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of
October, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
third.
DONALD J. TRUMP


[[Page 5880]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD31OC18.000