Camp Nelson Confederate Cemetery is a historic cemetery located near Austin in Lonoke County, Arkansas and is the site of Confederate military camp where 1,500 Confederate soldiers died during an epidemic during the fall of 1862.
Camp Nelson was a central staging point in central Arkansas for Confederate troops gathering from Texas and Arkansas. The camp was named for Brigadier General Allison Nelson who was in command of the 10th Texas Infantry Regiment.
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 500 of these soldiers were buried in unmarked graves at the site of the current cemetery and the other 1,000 were buried at still unknown locations in the surrounding hills.
During the early years of the 20th century Confederate veterans placed government markers on the graves of the 500 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. It is the only All-Confederate Cemetery in the State of Arkansas.
Camp Nelson Confederate Cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
