Camp Nelson Confederate Cemetery is a historic
cemetery located near
Cabot
Cabot may refer to:
Businesses
* Cabot Corporation, an American chemicals company
* Cabot Creamery, an American dairy cooperative
Fictional characters
* Alexandra Cabot, in the ''Law & Order'' universe
* Leigh Cabot, from Stephen King's 1983 no ...
in northern
Lonoke County, Arkansas and is near the site of a
Confederate military camp Camp Hope (renamed Camp Nelson), where 1,500 Confederate soldiers died during an
epidemic during the fall of 1862. Camp Nelson Cemetery is located on Rye Drive, just off Cherry Road, just off Mt. Carmel Road in north Lonoke County about 2 miles east of Cabot.
History

Camp Hope was established in the spring of 1862 as a central staging point in central
Arkansas for Confederate troops gathering from
Texas and Arkansas. The camp was renamed for Brigadier General
Allison Nelson, commander of the
10th Texas Infantry Regiment
The 10th Texas Infantry Regiment was a unit of Confederate States Army infantry volunteers organized in October 1861 that fought during the American Civil War. The regiment was captured in its first major action at Arkansas Post in January 1863. ...
, after he died there in October 1862.
During the fall of 1862, an epidemic of
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
,
typhoid fever,
mumps
MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gener ...
, and other diseases ran rampant through the troops congregated there. Brigadier General Nelson was among the approximately 1,500 Arkansas and Texas soldiers who died from disease-related conditions during a two-month period, from early October to early December. The majority of these soldiers were buried in unmarked graves in the surrounding area.
The camp was abandoned by the end of 1862.

In 1905, Confederate veterans located 429 graves and reinterred the remains on land donated for a cemetery near the original camp site. They placed 429 limestone markers, all marked "Unknown Soldier CSA", and erected a 12-foot obelisk to memorialize those buried here. Improperly maintained after the death of the last Civil War Veterans, the site was ultimately overtaken by forest undergrowth.
The cemetery was reclaimed before the end of the century, however, after local high school teachers, members of the Cabot High School Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, Future Farmers of America students, and other area residents embarked on a restoration project during the 1980s with state funding. Renovations included clearing and leveling the land, replacing the fence and gate, and replacing the markers with new United States government headstones. The state appropriation for upkeep ended in the late 1990s leaving the cemetery maintenance up to interested residents. The Camp Nelson Confederate Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.[
]
Photo gallery
Entry Gate.JPG
Cemetery Plaque.JPG
Confederates.JPG
Confederate Cemetery Cabot Arkansas.JPG
All graves are Unknown Soldier CSA.JPG
See also
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Lonoke County, Arkansas
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1897 establishments in Arkansas
Cemeteries in Lonoke County, Arkansas
Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
Confederate cemeteries in Arkansas
National Register of Historic Places in Lonoke County, Arkansas
Protected areas of Lonoke County, Arkansas
Tourist attractions in Lonoke County, Arkansas
Cemeteries established in the 1890s