From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (PIONEERS & PATRIOTS: Anderson County Military Servicemen, Revolutionary War - WWI)

Busey, Jordan

(born: c. 1829)

Busey was born a slave in Anderson County about 1829. He remained a slave into adulthood; President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states that were openly hostile toward the Union. Late in the Civil War, however, those who enrolled in the Union Army gained immediate freedom.

Jordan Busey therefore made his way to Camp Nelson to enlist, and on September 9, 1864 was enrolled as a private in Company E of the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry Regiment.

Although not at a full complement of men, the regiment was assigned at the end of September to take part in Burbridge's Campaign into southwest Virginia. Jordan, however, was reported as absent from the rolls, listed as sick at the General Hospital at Camp Nelson.

In December, another attempt was made to destroy the salt works in Virginia, and the 5th was again part of Stoneman's Raid. On December 17-18, 1864, the Battle of Marion was fought and the Confederate lead mines were captured, and on December 20-21 the Federals captured and destroyed the salt works after the 2nd Battle of Saltville.

In January 1865, Company E of the 5th Regiment was detailed to escort a herd of cattle from Camp Nelson to Louisville. As the column passed through Mercer and Anderson Counties, its progress was closely monitored by Confederate partisans operating in the area. On January 25, 1865, just outside Simpsonville in Shelby County, a band of Confederate guerrillas under Captain Isaiah "Zay" Coalter caught the colored troopers completely off guard, and after a 15-minute action, all 35 men of the rear guard were down, either dead or left for dead.

Local citizens gathered up the dead troopers and buried them in a mass grave, while the wounded were taken to Louisville. Although Private Busey was certainly assigned to this detail, he was not listed among the casualties, most likely among those further along the trail.

Throughout the spring and early summer of 1865 the regiment saw duty at various posts in central Kentucky until August 1865, when it was transferred to the Department of Arkansas. The regiment was engaged in that state against renegade groups until March 1866, then mustered out of service at Helena, Arkansas on March 20, 1866.