Simpsonville Slaughter (Simpsonville, KY)

In January 1865, Company E of the 5th United States Colored Cavalry (USCC) was taking a herd of 1,000 cattle from Camp Nelson, KY to Louisville when they were ambushed by a band of Confederate guerrillas near Simpsonville, KY; an estimated 22-35 Cavalry soldiers were murdered and later buried in a mass grave.

In 2008, the Shelbyville Historical Society received a Lincoln Preservation Grant of $5,000 to identify and preserve the burial site. A historical marker was placed at the site in 2009.

For more see The 5th USCC at Simpsonville, KY website; Berry Craig, "The 'Simpsonville Slaughter,' a Kentucky Civil War massacre we tried to ignore," Courier-Journal.com, 2/10/2022; and J. McDanald, "Marker revives memory of Simpsonville Slaughter," Lexington Herald-Leader, 1/21/09, Communities section, pp. B1 & B3.