The Simpsonville Massacre | Kentucky Studies

The 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry (USCC) was organized in 1864 at Camp Nelson, Kentucky. The unit was attacked by Confederate guerillas more than once: at the Battle of Saltville, Virginia, on Oct. 2, 1864, and in an ambush at Simpsonville, Kentucky, on Jan. 25, 1865.

It was very dangerous for Black men to enlist in the Union Army. If they were captured by the Confederates, instead of being held as prisoners as white soldiers were, they could be killed or sold back into slavery. The Confederate policy was to treat Black soldiers as slaves in a state of insurrection.