State Historical Society to Unveil Marker at Battlefield Center

State historical society to unveil marker at battlefield center

Posted:Saturday, May 23, 2015 8:34 pm

Specialto theRegister

The Kentucky Historical Society will dedicate a historical marker 10 a.m. Saturday, May 30, at the Battle of Richmond Visitors Center, 101 Battlefield Memorial Highway (US 421) south of Richmond.

The same day, the society also will dedicate markers at Camp Dick Robinson, 11:45 a.m., in northern Garrard County, junction of US 27 and KY 34, and 12:45 p.m. at Camp Nelson, 6614 Danville Road, Nicholasville.

The dedications were timed so guests may attend all three.

The Richmond marker will highlight the Old State Road as a major transportation route for troops under the command of Confederate Gen. E. Kirby Smith from Knoxville, Tenn., to the Richmond area in August 1862. A Confederate attack and subsequent battle along the Old State Road south of Richmond was a decisive Confederate victory.

President Abraham Lincoln’s authorization of 5,000 guns for Kentucky Unionists in response to Union officer and Kentucky native William Nelson’s concern at the lack of weapons available to them will be cited on the Camp Dick Robinson marker.

The guns were sent covertly from outside the state because of Kentucky’s declared neutrality. Union sympathizers from East Tennessee flocked to Camp Dick Robinson to enlist in the Union Army, especially after Tennessee joined the Confederacy on June 8, 1861. By March 1862, enough East Tennessee men had enlisted to fill four regiments.

The impression of Kentucky slaves into service on Union Army construction projects, especially roads and railroads, and their work in building Camp Nelson in 1863 will be cited in the Camp Nelson Marker. Many impressed slaves from local farms who worked on Camp Nelson received training there after blacks were allowed to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1864. The camp was named for Gen. William “Bull” Nelson who commanded Union troops at the Battle of Richmond.

These markers are part of a larger statewide initiative to highlight the role of transportation in Kentucky during the Civil War. They were funded by a federal Transportation Enhancement Grant administered by the Kentucky Historical Society.

For more about the May 30 dedications, call the Battle of Richmond Visitors Center at 624-0013

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Ahistorical markernoting the significance of the Old State Road in the 1962 Battle of Richmond will be placed Saturday morning in front of the Battle of RichmondVisitors Center.