About twenty-two United State Colored Cavalry were killed on January 25th 1865 in Simpsonville, KY by irregular Confederate troops.A company of black soldiers from the 5th United States Colored Cavalry were assigned in January 1865 to drive 900 head of cattle to a railroad depot near Louisville from Camp Nelson in Jessamine County. Just a few months earlier, most of these soldiers had been slaves. The men drove the cattle along a trail that would become US Route 60. With a light snow falling on January 25, 1865 in Simpsonville,KY a band of Confederate Irregulars surprised the rear guard of the 5th, and began shooting the men down. It seems that the men of the 5th in the front of the herd didn't know the attack was happening. The people of Simpsonville collected the dead and buried them in a mass grave, and cared for about twenty others who were wounded.
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