Burdett, Gabriel

Gabriel Burdett was born a slave in Garrard County, KY. In the 1850s, he was a preacher at the Forks Dix River Church in Garrard County. In 1864 he enlisted in the 114th U.S. Colored Infantry at Camp Nelson, KY, and assisted in establishing the refugee camp there. He was an associate of John G. Fee.

Burdett returned to Camp Nelson after the Civil War to become a member of the group that established Ariel Academy. He was the first African American on the Berea College Board of Trustees. In 1877 Burdette left Kentucky for Kansas, a member of the Exoduster Movement to the West.

For more see the Gabriel Burdette entry in the Kentucky Encyclopedia 2000 and Embattled Freedom, by Amy Murrell Taylor.