83 FR 54845 - Establishment of the Camp Nelson National Monument

Executive Office of the President

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 211 (October 31, 2018)

Page Range		54845-54849
FR Document		2018-24027

Federal Register, Volume 83 Issue 211 (Wednesday, October 31, 2018)

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 211 (Wednesday, October 31, 2018)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 54845-54849]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-24027]



[[Page 54843]]

Vol. 83

Wednesday,

No. 211

October 31, 2018

Part IV





The President





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Proclamation 9811--Establishment of the Camp Nelson National Monument



Proclamation 9812--Honoring the Victims of the Tragedy in Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania



Proclamation 9813--To Modify the List of Products Eligible for Duty-
Free Treatment Under the Generalized System of Preferences


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 83 , No. 211 / Wednesday, October 31, 2018 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 54845]]

                Proclamation 9811 of October 26, 2018

                
Establishment of the Camp Nelson National 
                Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Initially established as a Union Army supply depot and 
                hospital, Camp Nelson, located in Jessamine County, 
                Kentucky, was a key site of emancipation for African 
                American soldiers and a refugee camp for their families 
                during the Civil War. Camp Nelson was one of the 
                largest Union Army recruitment centers for African 
                American Union soldiers, then known as United States 
                Colored Troops. During the war, thousands of enslaved 
                African Americans risked their lives escaping to Camp 
                Nelson, out of a deep desire for freedom and the right 
                of self-determination. Today, the site is one of the 
                best-preserved landscapes and archeological sites 
                associated with United States Colored Troops 
                recruitment and the refugee experiences of African 
                American slaves seeking freedom during the Civil War.

                Between 1863 and 1865, Camp Nelson served as a bustling 
                Union Army encampment, hospital, and supply depot. From 
                it, the Union Army dispatched soldiers, horses, and 
                other supplies to support military operations at the 
                Cumberland Gap and the frontlines in Tennessee and 
                Virginia. During this time, enslaved individuals sought 
                to gain their freedom by fleeing to Camp Nelson and 
                other Union military installations in Kentucky. They 
                placed their hope in places like Camp Nelson even 
                though slavery was then legal in Kentucky. The 
                Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham 
                Lincoln on January 1, 1863, to free slaves from 
                bondage, applied only to jurisdictions in which the 
                people were in rebellion against the United States. As 
                a strategically important border State, Kentucky had 
                remained loyal to the Union and, therefore, was not 
                within the proclamation's scope.

                Kentucky was the last State in the Union to allow the 
                enlistment of African American men. Beginning in April 
                of 1864, however, the State allowed free African 
                American men and enslaved men who had the express 
                permission of their owners to enlist. Notwithstanding 
                these limited avenues to enlistment, hundreds of 
                enslaved men risked their lives fleeing slavery and 
                arrived at Camp Nelson during the spring of 1864, with 
                the goal of enlisting in the Union Army in order to 
                gain their freedom and to fight for the freedom of 
                others.

                As the pressure to meet recruitment demands grew, the 
                Union Army was forced to allow all able-bodied men who 
                were of age to join the Army. Kentucky, in particular, 
                was unable to meet its draft quotas with only white 
                soldiers. In the summer after enslaved men began to 
                arrive at Camp Nelson, in June of 1864, more than 500 
                United States Colored Troops were mustered into 
                service. In July, a record 1,370 new African American 
                troops enlisted in the Union Army. On the single 
                biggest recruitment day--July 25, 1864--322 African 
                American men enlisted at Camp Nelson. By the end of the 
                Civil War, more than 23,000 African Americans had 
                joined the Union Army in Kentucky, making it the second 
                largest contributor of United States Colored Troops of 
                any State. More than 10,000 of these troops enlisted or 
                were trained at Camp Nelson. Eight United States 
                Colored Troop regiments were founded at Camp Nelson and 
                five other such regiments were stationed there during 
                the war.

[[Page 54846]]

                Many enslaved men who arrived at Camp Nelson in 1864 
                were accompanied by their families. Although enlisting 
                in the Union Army allowed men to gain their own 
                freedom, it did not have the same effect for their 
                family members, who often remained slaves in the eyes 
                of the law and struggled to support and defend 
                themselves. African Americans at Camp Nelson who did 
                not enlist built refugee encampments. And as United 
                States Colored Troop recruitment continued to climb, so 
                did the population of freedom-seeking refugees at Camp 
                Nelson, despite efforts by the Union Army to break them 
                up and return the enslaved individuals to their owners.

                The Union Army's efforts to remove refugees from Camp 
                Nelson culminated in the tragic, forced expulsion of 
                approximately 400 African American women and children 
                during frigid weather in November of 1864, causing the 
                deaths of 102 refugees. That tragedy brought national 
                attention and public support to the plight of the 
                refugees at Camp Nelson. In response, the Union Army 
                established the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees 
                in January 1865, creating a safe haven for the wives 
                and children of enlisted African American soldiers in 
                Jessamine County, Kentucky. Influenced by these events, 
                the Congress took action in March of 1865 by 
                emancipating the wives and children of any enlisted 
                member of the United States Colored Troops. This law 
                protected the refugees at Camp Nelson. It also provided 
                an additional incentive for African American men to 
                enlist in the Union Army, and caused recruitment to 
                steadily climb through the end of the war. In fact, as 
                of the spring of 1865, Camp Nelson and the refugee home 
                were at their largest, with thousands of new recruits, 
                Union troops, refugees, and civilians working and 
                living in hundreds of structures.

                In 1865, after the end of the war, the Department of 
                War began the process of closing Camp Nelson. It took 
                inventory of existing buildings and equipment and 
                prepared to dismantle and abandon the camp. Many of 
                Camp Nelson's military buildings, all of which were 
                built as temporary structures to be used during 
                wartime, were either sold and moved, or dismantled. 
                Only a few structures, like the Oliver Perry house, 
                which predated the camp's establishment, and the Camp 
                Nelson Home for Colored Refugees, were left intact 
                following the closure.

                The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 
                more commonly referred to as the ``Freedmen's Bureau,'' 
                assumed management of the Camp Nelson Home for Colored 
                Refugees during the post-war transition. Many of the 
                African Americans who lived at Camp Nelson had 
                envisioned that the refugee home would be a center for 
                a thriving post-war African American community. The 
                policy of the Freedmen's Bureau, however, was to remove 
                all refugees from military installations. By October of 
                1865, all of the former Civil War refugee camps in 
                Kentucky and Tennessee had been closed, with the 
                exception of Camp Nelson. While the refugee home 
                officially closed in 1866, approximately 250 
                individuals stayed and sustained a community there, 
                which today is known as Hall, Kentucky. And although no 
                original buildings remain from the Camp Nelson Home for 
                Colored Refugees, the descendants of refugees and 
                soldiers maintain connections to Camp Nelson, and some 
                still live in the Hall community.

                The history of Camp Nelson is now told primarily 
                through archival and military records, as well as rich 
                archeological evidence from the site. The well-
                preserved in situ archeological resources associated 
                with the military installation, recruitment camp, and 
                refugee home provide robust opportunities for 
                researchers to understand the African American 
                experience during the Civil War. The broader Camp 
                Nelson archeological record also provides opportunities 
                for research and scholarship related to military 
                history, race, identity, and gender during the Civil 
                War--a pivotal chapter of the Nation's history. The 
                preserved archeological resources at the sites of Camp 
                Nelson and the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees 
                provide insight into what was once a place where 
                formerly enslaved individuals experienced freedom and 
                self-determination, and struggled to create a sense of 
                home, amidst the chaos of war. Camp Nelson reminds us 
                of the courage and determination

[[Page 54847]]

                possessed by formerly enslaved African Americans as 
                they fought for their freedom.

                WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code 
                (the ``Antiquities Act''), authorizes the President, in 
                his discretion, to declare by public proclamation 
                historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric 
                structures, and other objects of historic or scientific 
                interest that are situated upon the lands owned or 
                controlled by the Federal Government to be national 
                monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of 
                land, the limits of which shall be confined to the 
                smallest area compatible with the proper care and 
                management of the objects to be protected;

                WHEREAS, the Camp Nelson Historic and Archeological 
                District was designated as a National Historic Landmark 
                in 2016 for its national significance as the site of 
                one of the Nation's largest recruitment and training 
                centers for African American soldiers during the Civil 
                War, as well as a refugee camp for the families of 
                those African American soldiers;

                WHEREAS, Jessamine County, Kentucky, has donated to the 
                American Battlefield Trust fee title to the Camp Nelson 
                Civil War Heritage Park, located at 6614 Danville Road, 
                Nicholasville, Kentucky, totaling approximately 373 
                acres, and the nearby property containing archeological 
                evidence of the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees, 
                totaling approximately 7 acres (collectively, the Camp 
                Nelson site);

                WHEREAS, the American Battlefield Trust has 
                relinquished fee title to these properties to the 
                Federal Government;

                WHEREAS, the designation of a national monument to be 
                administered by the National Park Service (NPS) would 
                recognize the historic significance of the Camp Nelson 
                site, particularly the events that transpired at this 
                location during and after the Civil War, and provide a 
                national platform for preserving this history;

                WHEREAS, the NPS intends to cooperate with Jessamine 
                County, Kentucky, in the preservation, interpretation, 
                operation, and maintenance of, and in educating about, 
                the Camp Nelson site;

                WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to preserve and 
                protect the Camp Nelson site, in Jessamine County, 
                Kentucky, and the objects of historic interest therein;

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the 
                United States of America, by the authority vested in me 
                by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, 
                hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are 
                situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or 
                controlled by the Federal Government to be the Camp 
                Nelson National Monument (monument) and, for the 
                purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as a part 
                thereof all lands and interests in lands owned or 
                controlled by the Federal Government within the 
                boundaries described on the accompanying map entitled 
                ``Camp Nelson National Monument, Nicholasville, 
                Kentucky,'' which is attached to and forms a part of 
                this proclamation. The reserved Federal lands and 
                interests in lands encompass approximately 380 acres. 
                The boundaries described on the accompanying map are 
                confined to the smallest area compatible with the 
                proper care and management of the objects to be 
                protected.

                All Federal lands and interests in lands within the 
                boundaries described on the accompanying map are hereby 
                appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, 
                location, selection, sale, or other disposition under 
                the public land laws, from location, entry, and patent 
                under the mining laws, and from disposition under all 
                laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing.

                The establishment of the monument is subject to valid 
                existing rights. If the Federal Government acquires any 
                lands or interests in lands not owned or controlled by 
                the Federal Government within the boundaries described 
                on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in 
                lands shall be reserved as a part of the monument, and 
                objects identified above that are situated

[[Page 54848]]

                upon those lands and interests in lands shall be part 
                of the monument, upon acquisition of ownership or 
                control by the Federal Government.

                The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage 
                the monument through the NPS, pursuant to applicable 
                legal authorities, consistent with the purposes and 
                provisions of this proclamation. The Secretary shall 
                prepare a management plan with full and appropriate 
                public involvement within 3 years of the date of this 
                proclamation. The management plan shall ensure that the 
                monument fulfills the following purposes for the 
                benefit of present and future generations: (1) to 
                preserve and protect the objects of historic interest 
                within the monument, and (2) to interpret the objects, 
                resources, and values related to the Camp Nelson site. 
                The management plan shall also set forth the desired 
                relationship of the monument to other related 
                resources, programs, and organizations, both within and 
                outside the National Park System.

                The NPS is directed to use applicable authorities to 
                seek to enter into agreements with others, including 
                Jessamine County, to address common interests and 
                promote management efficiencies, including provision of 
                visitor services, interpretation and education, 
                establishment and care of museum collections, and 
                preservation of historic objects.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke 
                any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; 
                however, the national monument shall be the dominant 
                reservation.

                Warning is hereby given that no unauthorized persons 
                shall appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any 
                feature of this monument, or locate or settle upon any 
                of the lands thereof.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord 
                two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                third.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

Billing code 3295-F9-P



[[Page 54849]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD31OC18.000


[FR Doc. 2018-24027
Filed 10-30-18; 2:00 p.m.]
Billing code 3295-F9-C

$54845 Federal Register Presidential Documents Vol. 83, No. 211 Wednesday, October 31, 2018 Title 3— Proclamation 9811 of October 26, 2018 The President Establishment of the Camp Nelson National Monument By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Initially established as a Union Army supply depot and hospital, Camp Nelson, located in Jessamine County, Kentucky, was a key site of emanci- pation for African American soldiers and a refugee camp for their families during the Civil War. Camp Nelson was one of the largest Union Army recruitment centers for African American Union soldiers, then known as United States Colored Troops. During the war, thousands of enslaved African Americans risked their lives escaping to Camp Nelson, out of a deep desire for freedom and the right of self-determination. Today, the site is one of the best-preserved landscapes and archeological sites associated with United States Colored Troops recruitment and the refugee experiences of African American slaves seeking freedom during the Civil War. Between 1863 and 1865, Camp Nelson served as a bustling Union Army encampment, hospital, and supply depot. From it, the Union Army dis- patched soldiers, horses, and other supplies to support military operations at the Cumberland Gap and the frontlines in Tennessee and Virginia. During this time, enslaved individuals sought to gain their freedom by fleeing to Camp Nelson and other Union military installations in Kentucky. They placed their hope in places like Camp Nelson even though slavery was then legal in Kentucky. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, to free slaves from bondage, applied only to jurisdictions in which the people were in rebellion against the United States. As a strategically important border State, Kentucky had re- mained loyal to the Union and, therefore, was not within the proclamation’s scope. Kentucky was the last State in the Union to allow the enlistment of African American men. Beginning in April of 1864, however, the State allowed free African American men and enslaved men who had the express permis- sion of their owners to enlist. Notwithstanding these limited avenues to enlistment, hundreds of enslaved men risked their lives fleeing slavery and arrived at Camp Nelson during the spring of 1864, with the goal of enlisting in the Union Army in order to gain their freedom and to fight for the freedom of others. As the pressure to meet recruitment demands grew, the Union Army was forced to allow all able-bodied men who were of age to join the Army. Kentucky, in particular, was unable to meet its draft quotas with only white soldiers. In the summer after enslaved men began to arrive at Camp Nelson, in June of 1864, more than 500 United States Colored Troops were mustered into service. In July, a record 1,370 new African American troops enlisted in the Union Army. On the single biggest recruitment day—July amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with PRESDOC3 25, 1864—322 African American men enlisted at Camp Nelson. By the end of the Civil War, more than 23,000 African Americans had joined the Union Army in Kentucky, making it the second largest contributor of United States Colored Troops of any State. More than 10,000 of these troops enlisted or were trained at Camp Nelson. Eight United States Colored Troop regiments were founded at Camp Nelson and five other such regiments were stationed there during the war. VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:39 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 247001 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 4705 Sfmt 4790 E:\FR\FM\31OCD0.SGM 31OCD0$

54846 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 211 / Wednesday, October 31, 2018 / Presidential Documents

Many enslaved men who arrived at Camp Nelson in 1864 were accompanied
by their families. Although enlisting in the Union Army allowed men to
gain their own freedom, it did not have the same effect for their family
members, who often remained slaves in the eyes of the law and struggled
to support and defend themselves. African Americans at Camp Nelson who
did not enlist built refugee encampments. And as United States Colored
Troop recruitment continued to climb, so did the population of freedom-
seeking refugees at Camp Nelson, despite efforts by the Union Army to
break them up and return the enslaved individuals to their owners.
The Union Army’s efforts to remove refugees from Camp Nelson culminated
in the tragic, forced expulsion of approximately 400 African American women
and children during frigid weather in November of 1864, causing the deaths
of 102 refugees. That tragedy brought national attention and public support
to the plight of the refugees at Camp Nelson. In response, the Union Army
established the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees in January 1865,
creating a safe haven for the wives and children of enlisted African American
soldiers in Jessamine County, Kentucky. Influenced by these events, the
Congress took action in March of 1865 by emancipating the wives and
children of any enlisted member of the United States Colored Troops. This
law protected the refugees at Camp Nelson. It also provided an additional
incentive for African American men to enlist in the Union Army, and
caused recruitment to steadily climb through the end of the war. In fact,
as of the spring of 1865, Camp Nelson and the refugee home were at
their largest, with thousands of new recruits, Union troops, refugees, and
civilians working and living in hundreds of structures.
In 1865, after the end of the war, the Department of War began the process
of closing Camp Nelson. It took inventory of existing buildings and equipment
and prepared to dismantle and abandon the camp. Many of Camp Nelson’s
military buildings, all of which were built as temporary structures to be
used during wartime, were either sold and moved, or dismantled. Only
a few structures, like the Oliver Perry house, which predated the camp’s
establishment, and the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees, were left
intact following the closure.
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, more commonly
referred to as the ‘‘Freedmen’s Bureau,’’ assumed management of the Camp
Nelson Home for Colored Refugees during the post-war transition. Many
of the African Americans who lived at Camp Nelson had envisioned that
the refugee home would be a center for a thriving post-war African American
community. The policy of the Freedmen’s Bureau, however, was to remove
all refugees from military installations. By October of 1865, all of the former
Civil War refugee camps in Kentucky and Tennessee had been closed, with
the exception of Camp Nelson. While the refugee home officially closed
in 1866, approximately 250 individuals stayed and sustained a community
there, which today is known as Hall, Kentucky. And although no original
buildings remain from the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees, the
descendants of refugees and soldiers maintain connections to Camp Nelson,
and some still live in the Hall community.
The history of Camp Nelson is now told primarily through archival and
military records, as well as rich archeological evidence from the site. The
well-preserved in situ archeological resources associated with the military
installation, recruitment camp, and refugee home provide robust opportuni-
ties for researchers to understand the African American experience during
the Civil War. The broader Camp Nelson archeological record also provides
amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with PRESDOC3

opportunities for research and scholarship related to military history, race,
identity, and gender during the Civil War—a pivotal chapter of the Nation’s
history. The preserved archeological resources at the sites of Camp Nelson
and the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees provide insight into what
was once a place where formerly enslaved individuals experienced freedom
and self-determination, and struggled to create a sense of home, amidst
the chaos of war. Camp Nelson reminds us of the courage and determination

VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:39 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 247001 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 4705 Sfmt 4790 E:\FR\FM\31OCD0.SGM 31OCD0

$Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 211 / Wednesday, October 31, 2018 / Presidential Documents 54847 possessed by formerly enslaved African Americans as they fought for their freedom. WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (the ‘‘Antiquities Act’’), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public procla- mation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and manage- ment of the objects to be protected; WHEREAS, the Camp Nelson Historic and Archeological District was des- ignated as a National Historic Landmark in 2016 for its national significance as the site of one of the Nation’s largest recruitment and training centers for African American soldiers during the Civil War, as well as a refugee camp for the families of those African American soldiers; WHEREAS, Jessamine County, Kentucky, has donated to the American Battle- field Trust fee title to the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park, located at 6614 Danville Road, Nicholasville, Kentucky, totaling approximately 373 acres, and the nearby property containing archeological evidence of the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees, totaling approximately 7 acres (collectively, the Camp Nelson site); WHEREAS, the American Battlefield Trust has relinquished fee title to these properties to the Federal Government; WHEREAS, the designation of a national monument to be administered by the National Park Service (NPS) would recognize the historic significance of the Camp Nelson site, particularly the events that transpired at this location during and after the Civil War, and provide a national platform for preserving this history; WHEREAS, the NPS intends to cooperate with Jessamine County, Kentucky, in the preservation, interpretation, operation, and maintenance of, and in educating about, the Camp Nelson site; WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to preserve and protect the Camp Nelson site, in Jessamine County, Kentucky, and the objects of historic interest therein; NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be the Camp Nelson National Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as a part thereof all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Govern- ment within the boundaries described on the accompanying map entitled ‘‘Camp Nelson National Monument, Nicholasville, Kentucky,’’ which is at- tached to and forms a part of this proclamation. The reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass approximately 380 acres. The boundaries described on the accompanying map are confined to the smallest area compat- ible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected. All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries described on the accompanying map are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, sale, or other disposition under the public land laws, from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with PRESDOC3 leasing. The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights. If the Federal Government acquires any lands or interests in lands not owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in lands shall be reserved as a part of the monument, and objects identified above that are situated VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:39 Oct 30, 2018 Jkt 247001 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 4705 Sfmt 4790 E:\FR\FM\31OCD0.SGM 31OCD0$

Document Created: 2018-10-31 00:33:57
Document Modified: 2018-10-31 00:33:57

Category		Regulatory Information
Collection		Federal Register
sudoc Class		AE 2.7: GS 4.107: AE 2.106:
Publisher		Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
Section		Presidential Documents
FR Citation		83 FR 54845