The Camp Beauregard Memorial, outside Water Valley, Kentucky on Kentucky state road 2422 northeast of town, marks the site of a

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

encampment named for General

P. G. T. Beauregard Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (May 28, 1818 – February 20, 1893) was an American military officer known as being the Confederate general who started the American Civil War at the battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Today, he is comm ...

. The camp was situated to protect the right flank of the Confederate encampment at

Columbus, Kentucky Columbus is a home rule-class city in Hickman County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 140 at the 2020 census, a decline from 229 in 2000. The city lies at the western end of the state, less than a mile from the Mississippi ...

Background

While an active military installation, from September 1861 to March 1, 1862, it trained 5,000-6,000 soldiers for the

Confederacy A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. However, the place was disease-ridden, resulting in 1,000-1,500 deaths at the camp. The diseases included cerebrospinal

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, and

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...

with poor weather and lack of sufficient supplies for the troops contributing to the dire situation. In a single day 75 cases of typhoid and pneumonia were reported.Cunningham, Samuel.
Confederate Veteran
' (S.A. Cunningham, 1916) p. 183. Under the direction of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment's Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas H. Logwood, it was destroyed.

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

forces occupied the abandoned camp shortly thereafter.

History

In 1909 the Kentucky Division of the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

placed a small monument dedicated to the dead soldiers at the site entrance, and then an eleven-foot monument within the cemetery. A concrete base was added in 1930. There were plans for a larger

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

monument, but they never materialized. The surrounding cemetery is believed by some to be haunted. On July 17, 1997, Camp Beauregard Memorial was one of sixty different monuments related to the American Civil War in Kentucky placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, as part of the Civil War Monuments of Kentucky

Multiple Property Submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Two other monuments on the list are in Graves County, both in Mayfield: the Confederate Memorial in Mayfield and the

Confederate Memorial Gates in Mayfield The Confederate Memorial Gates in Mayfield are historical monuments at the entrances to Maplewood Cemetery in Mayfield, Kentucky. The monuments were the second monument in Mayfield established by the United Daughters of the Confederacy; the first ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1909 establishments in Kentucky 1909 sculptures Civil War Monuments of Kentucky MPS National Register of Historic Places in Graves County, Kentucky P. G. T. Beauregard United Daughters of the Confederacy monuments and memorials in Kentucky