UK Archaeologist Philip Mink (left) on set at the filming of the PBS special, "The Civil War's Lost Massacre."
One of public television’s most popular series, "Secrets of the Dead," brings its historical analysis to Kentucky.
The series, which uses the latest science to challenge prevailing ideas and share fresh perspectives on historical events, investigates an incident from Kentucky history known as the “Simpsonville Massacre,” when 22 Civil War soldiers from the 5th US Colored Cavalry on a cattle drive to Louisville were ambushed and slain by outlaws.
The episode “The Civil War’s Lost Massacre,” which was co-produced by KET, revisits the events of January 25, 1865, tracing the stories of several of the Kentucky soldiers and their families with help from guest historians, two of whom hail from Kentucky: Jerry Miller, a former state legislator from Louisville, and Juanita White, a docent at the Farmington Historic Plantation in Louisville.
Aided by University of Kentucky archaeologist Philip Mink and the university’s EduceLab Mobile Team, the historians search the land around where the massacre occurred, hoping to find the lost burial grounds where the soldiers were lain. The episode includes interviews with several of Kentucky’s Civil War scholars, including Amy Murrell Taylor, author and history professor at the University of Kentucky; Steve Phan, chief of interpretation at Camp Nelson National Monument; W. Stephen McBride, former director of interpretation and archeology at Camp Nelson National Monument; and Joni House, former park manager of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site.