Inside the Search for the Lost Black Soldiers of Simpsonville

A long-buried episode from the Civil War is finally coming to light, as archaeologists and local historians search for the mass graves of Black soldiers killed in what is known as the Simpsonville Massacre. In January 1865, about 80 members of the Fifth US Colored Cavalry—all formerly enslaved men who had enlisted with the Union—were attacked by Confederate guerrillas while escorting cattle along what's now Highway 60 east of Louisville, Kentucky. He spearheaded the installation of a historical marker and memorial headstones, even though the exact gravesites remained unknown, and in 2023 asked University of Kentucky archaeologist Philip B. Mink to explore a soybean field owned by the Bryan family—descendants of local slaveholders who had heard family stories about Black soldiers graves on the property.

Author: Kate Seamons with Newser.AI

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