Camp Joe Holt

It was a major staging area for troops in the Western Theatre of the War, in preparation for invading the Confederate States of America.

[2] Built on land leased from Colonel S. H. Patterson,[3][4] it was named in honor of Joseph Holt, who became Buchanan's Secretary of War for about 60 days after John B. Floyd resigned.

[5] Colonel Lovell Rousseau opened the facility in June 1861 in order to recruit Kentuckians, mostly Louisvillians, into the Union Army.

By early September 1861, he had recruited over 2,000 such individuals, which formed the Fifth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the Louisville Legion.

[7] The 49th Indiana Infantry was organized at Camp Joe Holt by Colonel John W. Ray, a former city councilman of Jeffersonville.