Fulton in 1849. There is an annual festival held in September called Steamboat Days that celebrates Jeffersonville's heritage. Underground Railroad As a free state bordering the south, Indiana served as a crucial step along the Underground Railroad. By 1830, Jeffersonville was the first and largest route for fugitives crossing the Ohio River at Louisville. Hundreds of freedom seekers made their way north to Canada through Clark County. Civil War Camp Joe Holt During the Civil War Jeffersonville was one of the principal gateways to the South. This was largely due to its location directly opposite Louisville. Three railroads (including the Jeffersonville Railroad and the Ohio and Mississippi Railway) served Jeffersonville from the north, as well as the waterway of the Ohio River. Operating in the South, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad furnished the connecting link between Louisville and the rest of the South. These factors made the city a good location to house supplies and troops for the Union Army. In 1862, two area regiments established the first military camp in the city. The location was christened Camp Joe Holt, and the name was retained when the camp was converted to a hospital called Joe Holt Hospital. Evacuation to Jeffersonville In September and October 1862, two Confederate armies led by Generals Braxton Bragg and E. Kirby Smith closed in on Louisville, a key strategic prize. General William "Bull" Nelson ordered women and children to evacuate. So many fled across the river to Jeffersonville that the city's hotels and rooming houses were filled to capacity. On September 24, General Don Carlos Buell and his men managed to reach Louisville barely ahead of the Confederates. The force of 100,000 Union soldiers successfully defended Louisville and forestalled any invasion. Jefferson General Hospital Between 1864 and 1866 Port Fulton (now within Jeffersonville) was home to Jefferson General Hospital, the third largest hospital in the country at that time. The institution was built to replace Joe Holt Hospital and occupied land obtained from U.S. Senator Jesse D. Bright, a Confederate sympathizer. The land stretched down to the Ohio River, facilitating patient transfer from riverboats to the hospital. The facility contained 24 wards each radiating out like spokes on a wheel and all connected by a corridor one-half mile in circumference. Each ward was 150 feet long and 22 feet wide and could accommodate 60 patients. Female nurses and matrons were quartered separately from the men.