Camp Nelson Confederate Cemetery
- Street:
- 108 Rye Drive
- City:
- Cabot
- State:
- Arkansas
- Zip Code:
- 72023
- County:
- Lonoke
- Phone:
- None
- GPS Coordinates:
- 34.946100, -91.980487
- Maps:
-
- Also Known As:
- Unknown
- Active:
- No
- Condition:
- Very Good
- Established:
- 1897
- First/Oldest Burial:
- Unknown
- Affiliation:
- National/Military
- Access Type:
- Public
- Historic Site:
- Unknown
- Website:
- None
- Cemetery Map:
- None
- Notes:
- During the fall of 1862, an epidemic of measles and typhoid fever ran rampant through the troops congregated there. Approximately 1,500 Arkansas and Texas soldiers died of disease during a two-month period including Brigadier General Nelson himself. Approximately 1,500 of these soldiers were buried in unmarked graves in the surrounding hills.
During the early years of the 20th-century Confederate veterans placed markers in honor of the unknown soldiers and erected a 12-foot obelisk to their memory at the site. The cemetery was not properly maintained and was soon overtaken by the forest undergrowth and became just a local curiosity out in the forest.
In the 1980s local residents, including members of the ROTC and local high school students, began a restoration project on their own and returned the cemetery to its original condition.
