Candy Barr Performs Massive Pander in Desperate Play for Black Votes

Camp Nelson richly deserves to become a national park.  It's a scandal that it has been ignored by federal authorities for so long.  

 

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Barr proposes this park honoring black soldiers in the Union Army just as he is facing a strong challenge to his re-election and needs every black vote he can scrounge.

Greg Kocher at the Herald:

An effort has begun to put a Jessamine County historic site into the National Park System.

U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, has introduced a bill that would authorize the Department of Interior to conduct a study that would be the first step toward bringing Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park into the National Park System.

The heritage park tells the story of black soldiers who were recruited and trained to fight for the Union. The park is off U.S. 27 about six miles south of Nicholasville.

“This is a place of national historic value,” Barr said in a visit to the park Thursday.

SNIP 

Camp Nelson was established by an order of President Abraham Lincoln. It was named for Maj. Gen. William “Bull” Nelson.

As many as 10,000 black troops trained there. Eight regiments were founded at Camp Nelson and five others were stationed there, making it the third-largest such center in the nation.

Other training centers for black troops in Philadelphia and New Orleans were larger, but more archaeological resources were preserved at Camp Nelson because it was in a rural area, said Stephen McBride, director of interpretation and archaeology at the park.

Get out to vote on Nov. 8, you Sixth District Democrats.  Nancy Jo Kemper will be a much stronger advocate for Camp Nelson than Candy Barr has any intention of being.