- Camp Dick Robinson
Camp Dick Robinson was a large
Union Army organizational and training center located near Lancaster in ruralGarrard County, Kentucky , during theAmerican Civil War . It was the first Union training center created south of theOhio River and the first one in Kentucky.The camp was established on
August 6 ,1861 , despite the protests of GovernorBeriah Magoffin , a strongsecession ist and Southern sympathizer. It was located about halfway betweenCincinnati, Ohio and theCumberland Gap , and was about convert|27|mi|km from Louisville and convert|5|mi|km from Danville. It was constructed on the convert|3200|acre|km2|sing=on farm of Captain Dick Robinson, a strong pro-Union supporter. The post served as a rallying point for local loyalists, as well as for Unionists who had fled their homes in eastern Tennessee. Home Guard units recruited in the area were supplied with arms and munitions, and Federal troops trained and drilled until sent to the front lines. Among the early commanders wereWilliam "Bull" Nelson and George H. "Pap" Thomas.In 1862, the Confederate Army seized the camp and renamed it "Camp Breckinridge," in honor of Confederate general and former U.S. Vice President
John C. Breckinridge , a native Kentuckian. The advance of the Union army into the region forced the Rebels to abandon the camp, and Federal troops regained its possession for the remainder of the war. After hostilities ceased in 1865, the camp was phased out of existence.Camp Dick Robinson Elementary School in Lancaster memorializes the old Civil War camp.
References
* [http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1862/november/camp-dick-robinson.htm "Harper's Weekly", November 1, 1862]
* [http://www.geocities.com/civil_war_in_ky/camp-dick-robinson.html The Civil War in Kentucky]External links
* [http://kentuckyexplorer.com/nonmembers/3-camps.html Louisville "Courier-Journal" 1895 article on Camp Dick Robinson]
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