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Historic Jessamine CountyThe
Hall Community One
of the reasons Camp Nelson has national significance is that 10,000
African-Americans were trained as the site - making it the third
largest recruiting and training depot for African-Americans in the
nation. Many of the enlistees brought their families and eventually
a refugee camp was established by the army. Thousands of African-Americans
gained their freedom at Camp Nelson.
The
families of the African-American Soldiers attracted the attention
of the American Missionary Association, an abolitionist society
founded prior to the Civil War. Reverend John Fee, the founder of
Berea College, came to Camp Nelson in 1864 to teach and minister
to the refugees at Camp Nelson. His efforts eventually led to the
founding of Ariel College and church and finally the settlement
of Hall. Fee believed passionately in the equality of the races
and he sought to educate the freedmen to become independent, self-reliant
members of an integrated American society.
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