History
The cemetery was created in 1863 as a place to bury Union soldiers who died while serving in and around Camp Nelson during the Civil War. The first cemetery was located near the camp hospital, and 379 people were buried there between June 1863 and July 1865. A plot of land for the second cemetery, designated "Graveyard No. 2", was selected, and is now at the core of the present national cemetery. There were 1,183 soldiers and affiliated civilian employees buried there between the summer of 1865 and February 1866.
After the end of the Civil War, there was a federally mandated program to recover the bodies of Union soldiers from scattered and expedient battlefield graves across the country, and have them re-interred at national cemeteries as a gesture of respect and in order to facilitate the maintenance of graves. As part of this program, the federal government appropriated 8 acres (3.2 ha) for use as a cemetery and the roadway leading from the cemetery to the old Danville Pike, and it was designated a National Cemetery in 1866. In 1867 and 1868 a stone wall was built to enclose the cemetery. During June and July 1868, the remains of 2,023 Union soldiers were recovered from battlefield graves in Frankfort, Richmond, Perryville, London, and Covington; then brought to Camp Nelson and re-interred with honor.
Read more about this topic: Camp Nelson National Cemetery
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