Working off and on, mainly off lately on a book about Camp Nelson here is some early history. Some troops started arriving in the area by way of the Little Rock-Searcy Road (it had other local names) in the spring of 1862. On the side of the road was a "Wagon Park" (today that would be a rest area on the side of the freeway) it let travelers rest themselves and their teams, some would spend the night. The soldiers started a camp in this small area but soon it was cleared of trees and other vegetation to make a much larger campground. Down the hill was a set of springs (4 or 5) they drained into a low swampy area very stagant today, probably not much better back then. Today the springs are as follows: one is in and old stock pond, one is a wet weather spring (dry most of the year), and two are near the swamp. I'm sure they supplied more water then than they do now, but with the numbers at Camp Hope, men and horses they had to use the basin water. Before they started to spread the camp out it was approx. half mile square according to the pattern of the artifacts found. I found this camp in 1982, it was basically part of three farms. One took a dozer and filled in the road cut which was three to four feet deep through his property. "IT WAS A BOTHER" The other two were really nice and would let you hunt their grounds. I have saved all the relics for history. They will be featured in the book along with some I didn't find. They backup the research and physically document the history of what was going on at Camp Hope--Camp Nelson--(CAMP DEATH)

There were three major Confederate Camps in the Austin, Arkansas area. Camp Nelson being the southern most. Later in the war there was large Union camp.

These camps were setup to stop or slow down the capture of Little Rock from the Union army coming down the White River by way of Batesville, Searcy, and Des Arc. It bought about a year in time.

Since 1982 alot has changed in the Cabot area, along with the rest of Arkansas. Growth!!! The farms are gone, once where broken dutch ovens, CS buckles, buttons, bullets, parts of powder flasks, bullet molds, stone marbles, musket flint, heel plates, and sabre hooks lay new homes cover the site. I feel I saved a little piece of local history. Before all the growth I could walk the land and see the wagons moving up and down the frownful hills, campfires, and the officers tents with plank floors. All Gone! houses-houses-houses NOW..