Camp Nelson National Cemetery

Camp Nelson National Cemetery
Camp Nelson National Cemetery on Memorial Day, 2003.
Details
Established	1866
Location	6890 Danville Road, Nicholasville, Kentucky
Country	United States
Coordinates	37°47′14″N 84°36′09″W / 37.7871555°N 84.6024583°W / 37.7871555; -84.6024583
Type	Veterans
Owned by	Department of Veterans Affairs
Size	30.2 acres (12.2 ha)
No. of graves	12,000+
Camp Nelson National Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Architect	Montgomery C. Meigs
Architectural style	Second Empire
MPS	Civil War Era National Cemeteries MPS
NRHP reference No.	98001134[1]
Added to NRHP	September 3, 1998

Camp Nelson National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in southern Jessamine County, Kentucky. It was originally a graveyard associated with the U.S. Army's Camp Nelson, which was active during the U.S. Civil War and its aftermath. The camp was named for Major General William "Bull" Nelson, commander of the Civil War Army of Kentucky, who was murdered by a fellow officer in 1862.^[2]

Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the cemetery encompasses 30.2 acres (12.2 ha), has a capacity for 15,000 graves,^[3] and currently contains over 12,000 interments, nearly all of which were, at death, either U.S. Armed Forces personnel on active duty, veterans of the Armed Forces, or their dependent family members. There are 2,452 burials that date to the U.S. Civil War, and of those, 837 are known to be the graves of African-American soldiers.^[4][5] Their gravestone are marked with the letters "USCT" over their names; the designation stands for "United States Colored Troops".^[5]