On January 25, 1865, approximately forty men from Companies E and G of the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry formed the rear guard escort for a Union Army cattle drive headed to Louisville. Near Simpsonville, Kentucky, they were ambushed by Confederate guerrillas. Poorly armed and apparently abandoned by their white officers, the 5th USCC soldiers were quickly overrun. As in several other Civil War incidents when Confederates overpowered black Union Army soldiers, the black soldiers were massacred. 22 men were killed on the spot. Townspeople subsequently buried them in a mass grave at the site. Six more died later of their wounds. Others were injured but survived. There were no known Confederate casualties.

A memorial marker was placed at the site in 2009, followed by gravestones for the twenty-two men who died here.

Six men are known to have subsequently died of their wounds from the Simpsonville Massacre. All six died at the military hospital at New Albany, Indiana and were buried at the New Albany National Cemetery. Specifically, Lewis Baxter died February 3, 1865; Thomas Christman died April 9, 1865; Battle Fitch died March 19, 1865; Franklin Jasper died May 5, 1865; Spencer Jones died February 17, 1865; and Edmund Webb died October 7, 1865.

A number of other men were wounded but survived. Described as permanently disabled were John Dorsey, Marshall Flynn (or Flinn), Clayborn Fox, Isaac George, George Spotts, and Charles Walker.

All but one of the men who are buried at this location were held as slaves at the time of their enlistments. Slaves were normally forbidden to learn to read or write. Spellings of their names by army clerks was sometimes phonetic. The names on the gravestones reflect the spelling from army records and are almost certainly erroneous in several cases, such as Parish instead of Parrish, Padick instead of Paddock, or Moton (a forename) instead of Morton

These photos are NOT the actual burial site for these men.
This is the site is at the center of the "massacre" area, according to all written accounts. The actual site is likely aproximately 1,000 or so feet north or south of the plot holding the stones.

The University of Kentucky Archealogy Dept. has done quite a bit of survey work, and has not been able to locate any "mass grave". There are; however, two areas in Lincoln Ridge Cemetery (where local tradition holds the site is) that are rock covered, and may be the "mass grave". There is also a rock covered "sink" about 300 yards across the road which could possibly be the "mass grave" of these troopers.