5th United States Colored Cavalry - Ambush at Simpsonville

Ambush At Simpsonville

On January 23, 1865, 80 "colored" troops of Company E, 5th US Colored Cavalry, under command of 2nd Lieutenant Augustus Flint, were assigned to move almost a thousand head of cattle from Camp Nelson to the stock yard at Louisville, Kentucky. The men were mostly assigned to the front and rear of the spread-out herd of cattle. About 41 men were bringing up the rear on January 25 near Simpsonville, when they were ambushed by Confederate guerrillas. Very few of the Union troops were able to fire their muzzle-loaded Enfield infantry rifles, due to fouled powder. The guerrillas were armed with 6-shot revolvers, and most carried two or more. As Confederates quickly closed the distance, almost all of the "colored soldiers" bringing up the rear were wounded or dismounted. Only two escaped harm, one by playing dead, and the other hiding under an overturned wagon box. The forward group panicked and fled.

About an hour after the ambush, local citizens found 15 dead and 20 wounded soldiers stretched out on and near the road. Four more soldiers were later found dead of wounds or of exposure nearby. The men of Simpsonville took 20 wounded men back to town, 8 of the men so severely wounded they were not expected to live. A total of six soldiers died en route or in Louisville. Later it was determined that 19 Union soldiers had been murdered trying to surrender or after being disarmed. The remainder of the Union wounded were left to die in the freezing cold. Three soldiers remained missing in the final accounting. Flint, who was in town during the ambush, fled to Louisville. Authorities telegraphed Camp Nelson, and Carpenter immediately ordered ambulances, and a heavy escort mounted and arrived on scene on October 28. They took the surviving wounded to a hospital in Louisville. Locals reported what had happened and the boasts of the Confederate guerrillas, led by Captain Dick Taylor, who had murdered or shot many of the Union soldiers after they had been captured. The mass grave was located, and an effort was made to find the missing men. Carpenter wrote a report and documented the names of the known guerrillas and encouraged a hunt and their prosecution. This never happened.