The Simpsonville Slaughter has been regularly overlooked by some historians, but should be remembered as another Confederate Atrocity. The 5th United States Colored Cavalry bore the brunt of this racial massacre and received their enlistment and training at Camp Nelson. In addition, the warehousing of thousands of refugee slaves and freedmen, their wives and children, at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, is a dark testament to the inept Union General, Stephen G. Burbridge, military governor of Kentucky. Many different government and civilian agencies attempted humanitarian deeds for the inhabitants of Camp Nelson, but the internment of over 10,000 civilians was secondary to its original intent as a major supply hub, for Union troops preparing for an invasion of Tennessee. The camp, spread over nearly 4.5 square miles, boasted schools, churches, hospitals, warehouses, livestock pens and barns, hundreds of squalid cabins, little, if any fresh water and sanitation facilities were almost non-existent. Two of the Civil War’s most notorious racial massacres involved the African-American troopers of the 5th United States Colored Cavalry, posted at Camp Nelson.
The Simpsonville Slaughter, has been mainly forgotten or ignored by Kentucky locals and has been overshadowed by the Confederate racial atrocities at Fort Pillow and The Crater. However, two criminal massacres, that masqueraded as merely engagements or skirmishes, occurred in late October 1864 and January 1865. One at Saltville, Virginia and the other at Simpsonville, Kentucky. The Simpsonville murders of at least 28 members of the 5th USCC on January 25, 1865 became known as the Simpsonville Slaughter and would remain a Confederate and Kentucky mystery for years to come.
A detachment of at least 80 members of the 5th USCC, under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Augustus Flint, were charged with driving nearly 1000 head of beef cattle to Louisville, by way of Camp Nelson. Outside of Simpsonville, the Union troops were attacked from the rear by Confederate partisan guerillas, supposedly led by the ruthless Henry C. Magruder. Flint had stopped to warm himself and possibly buy new boots in Simpsonville and catch up with the herd later in the day. Meanwhile, Magruder and 14 of his henchmen ran down the rear guard of the cattle, emptying multiple revolver loads into the overwhelmed troopers, that were attempting to surrender. The USCC never got off a shot, their musket’s powder having fouled in the sub-zero weather and blowing snow. Half of the troops and their white non-coms were in the lead of the herd, with the remaining 40 troopers bringing up the rear. When 2nd Lieutenant Flint, learned of the attack, he cowered in the basement of the dry goods store in Simpsonville, planning his escape. While Flint cowered, his lead detachment, hearing the firing to their rear, spurred their horses and made for Camp Nelson. The wounded and dying troops of the 5th USCC lay bleeding in the snow, 22 dead on the spot and 6 would die later of their wounds. Two troopers survived the massacre, one by feigning his death and another hiding under an overturned wagon and ten barely escaped on horseback. Several newspapers of the day relate dead and mortally wounded between 35 and 40, official records detail 28 fatalities, the muster rolls out of Camp Nelson are circumspect to say the least. One of the official reports of the incident relates,
JANUARY 26, 1865.
COLONEL: The general commanding desires me to say that information has reached these headquarters that a cattle guard composed of negro soldiers were attacked at or near Simpsonville, Shelby County, yesterday and a number killed and wounded-of the latter seventeen are reported. It is absolutely necessary that they be attended to. You will therefore call the attention of the medical department to the fact. Secure if possible a mounted force of twenty-five to fifty men and send them to Simpsonville to escort the ambulances sent to bring in the wounded, with further instructions to collect the cattle and drive them to this city. They will further ascertain if any officers were in command of the guard; if so, arrest and bring them to these headquarters. Give this matter your immediate attention and report the departure of the force sent out.
By command of Brigadier General Hugh Ewing:
E. B. HARLAN, Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General
Union officers and officials never acknowledged any blame or guilt for the ineptness of command or response to the Simpsonville Slaughter. The Confederate perpetrators of the racial atrocities were never charged or convicted of the massacre, however Henry C. Magruder was brought to trial, for other murders and eventually executed.
In 2009, Jerry Miller, a member of the Shelby County Historical Society, who helped fund a memorial marker, learned about the event in 2006, when he was conducting genealogy research and read the diary of one of his ancestors that described the event. Miller said,
“I’ve lived in this area 50 years, and I’d never heard of this, I’m a Civil War buff, I couldn’t believe it.”
Many Civil War Buffs, probably still haven’t heard of the Simpsonville Slaughter or Confederate Racial Atrocity.
Bummer
I’d never heard of Simpsonville either. Amazing how so many of these atrocities involve Confederate treatment of USCC troops, no?
Louis,
The more the “old guy” gets beyond Fort Pillow and The Crater, the thread of racial inhumanity reveals more “war crimes.” Bummer is sure that their are more secret and buried acts, that can be shared here. The Union had their own despicable acts, but guess that’s just retribution and another story. Who knows? Simpsonville was swept under the rug for many reasons, Union ineptness was paramount and besides Burbridge was just using his Black Troopers as so much cannon fodder. A failing career bolstered by infamous skimishes, that he hoped would not make it to the press.
Bummer