Letters and diary of a sergeant in the 60th Indiana.
Palmer Judkins.
Letters and diary of a sergeant in the 60th Indiana.
Various places, 1861-1863
14 Autograph Letters Signed to his mother and other family members, 3 of them originally written faintly in pencil and over-written in ink at an early date; plus a manuscript diary kept intermittently on [12], 39 loose folio pages and sent home as letters covering 2-3 February 1861, 6-21 May 1862 at Camp Morton, IN; and 9 February to 12 April 1863 at Siege of Vicksburg; two pencil drawings; and one small broadside.
Charles Palmer Judkins (1842-1900) came from a Quaker family in Cincinnati, OH, and enlisted in the 60th Indiana Infantry in February 1862. In August 1862 he became a quartermaster sergeant, and in November a sergeant major. He was later a lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, and after the war was a physician in Cincinnati.
The first 8 letters are written from Camp Morton in Indianapolis, where the regiment guarded Confederate prisoners. On 8 March 1862 he describes some of the Confederates who were detailed to work in the regimental offices, one "a lawyer in Frankford Kentuckey and owns half a plantation and Negros in Georgia, the other is the Flying Dutchman, a celebrated boxer; besides them we have a cook, one who used to be a servant to one rebel officer. He is a very good and quiet man, and I don't think he will poison us. . . . The poor prisoners are dying off very fast, 13 one day, 14 next and so on. It is a great deal harder on the Mississipians than any other." The regiment spent the last half of 1862 in Kentucky.
The regiment's heaviest action was in the Vicksburg Campaign. Judkins described the Battle of Arkansas Post: "The fort we had to take was almost impreginable, in fact if it had not a been for the gunboats they could never have captured it" (14 January 1863). A small diagram of the fort and battlefield is enclosed, showing the location of the gunboats and rifle pits.
Judkins spent months at the Siege of Vicksburg, described in his diary on 25 and 26 February 1863: "There was heavy firing all of last night. . . . It was caused by a raft that was sent down by some of our generals, fitted up like a gunboat, with a big log for a gun. She passed the batteries safely with only one hole through her. . . . The men complain a good deal of the way they were treated by the general, forcing them to march 20 miles a day through mud 20 inches deep, and threatening to shoot them if they lagged behind."
Judkins added more in a 5 June 1863 letter: "The enemy sleeps during the hottest part of the day, and comes out of their holes in the mornings and evenings when our men amuse themselves by firing at them. . . . We heard today from Youngs Point the same force of Rebels that attacked us at Perkins Plantation came up and attacked the troops there. There were some Negro troops at the point, some of which were taken prisoners, whom the Rebels put to death. The other Negroes found it out, and went in again and cleaned the Rebels out. . . . I have just been up our rifle pits looking at gunboats shelling the city. It is quite a novel sight. You can hear our pickets talking to the rebels, asking them if they have plenty of food and so forth." A small drawing of the rifle pits, batteries, and surrounding hills is enclosed.
Judkins came from a Quaker background. Although that did not stop him from enlisting in the army, he did sometimes call the months by their numbers rather than their pagan names, and favored "thee" over "you"--at least in these family letters. His mother considered visiting his camp at one point, and he responded: "Don't think I would be ashamed of thy plain bonnett anywhere, and most especially here where I am known to be a Friend" (8 March 1862). His family seemed to have mixed emotions about his enlistment. On 3 March 1863 he wrote in his diary "I am glad to find my mother holds the opinion she does in regard to deserting. It relieves my mind of a good deal of anxiety, for I don't know what I might have done if she had so counseled me."
Among the ephemera in the collection, most interesting is an undated printed sheet titled "Rules for Camp Morton." The camp allowed the prisoners to choose their own officers, who were responsible for "policing for health and comfort, the construction of new sinks when necessary, and the daily throwing in of lime and mould to prevent bad odors." None are traced in OCLC or at auction.
Palmer Judkins.
Letters and diary of a sergeant in the 60th Indiana.
Various places, 1861-1863
14 Autograph Letters Signed to his mother and other family members, 3 of them originally written faintly in pencil and over-written in ink at an early date; plus a manuscript diary kept intermittently on [12], 39 loose folio pages and sent home as letters covering 2-3 February 1861, 6-21 May 1862 at Camp Morton, IN; and 9 February to 12 April 1863 at Siege of Vicksburg; two pencil drawings; and one small broadside.
Charles Palmer Judkins (1842-1900) came from a Quaker family in Cincinnati, OH, and enlisted in the 60th Indiana Infantry in February 1862. In August 1862 he became a quartermaster sergeant, and in November a sergeant major. He was later a lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, and after the war was a physician in Cincinnati.
The first 8 letters are written from Camp Morton in Indianapolis, where the regiment guarded Confederate prisoners. On 8 March 1862 he describes some of the Confederates who were detailed to work in the regimental offices, one "a lawyer in Frankford Kentuckey and owns half a plantation and Negros in Georgia, the other is the Flying Dutchman, a celebrated boxer; besides them we have a cook, one who used to be a servant to one rebel officer. He is a very good and quiet man, and I don't think he will poison us. . . . The poor prisoners are dying off very fast, 13 one day, 14 next and so on. It is a great deal harder on the Mississipians than any other." The regiment spent the last half of 1862 in Kentucky.
The regiment's heaviest action was in the Vicksburg Campaign. Judkins described the Battle of Arkansas Post: "The fort we had to take was almost impreginable, in fact if it had not a been for the gunboats they could never have captured it" (14 January 1863). A small diagram of the fort and battlefield is enclosed, showing the location of the gunboats and rifle pits.
Judkins spent months at the Siege of Vicksburg, described in his diary on 25 and 26 February 1863: "There was heavy firing all of last night. . . . It was caused by a raft that was sent down by some of our generals, fitted up like a gunboat, with a big log for a gun. She passed the batteries safely with only one hole through her. . . . The men complain a good deal of the way they were treated by the general, forcing them to march 20 miles a day through mud 20 inches deep, and threatening to shoot them if they lagged behind."
Judkins added more in a 5 June 1863 letter: "The enemy sleeps during the hottest part of the day, and comes out of their holes in the mornings and evenings when our men amuse themselves by firing at them. . . . We heard today from Youngs Point the same force of Rebels that attacked us at Perkins Plantation came up and attacked the troops there. There were some Negro troops at the point, some of which were taken prisoners, whom the Rebels put to death. The other Negroes found it out, and went in again and cleaned the Rebels out. . . . I have just been up our rifle pits looking at gunboats shelling the city. It is quite a novel sight. You can hear our pickets talking to the rebels, asking them if they have plenty of food and so forth." A small drawing of the rifle pits, batteries, and surrounding hills is enclosed.
Judkins came from a Quaker background. Although that did not stop him from enlisting in the army, he did sometimes call the months by their numbers rather than their pagan names, and favored "thee" over "you"--at least in these family letters. His mother considered visiting his camp at one point, and he responded: "Don't think I would be ashamed of thy plain bonnett anywhere, and most especially here where I am known to be a Friend" (8 March 1862). His family seemed to have mixed emotions about his enlistment. On 3 March 1863 he wrote in his diary "I am glad to find my mother holds the opinion she does in regard to deserting. It relieves my mind of a good deal of anxiety, for I don't know what I might have done if she had so counseled me."
Among the ephemera in the collection, most interesting is an undated printed sheet titled "Rules for Camp Morton." The camp allowed the prisoners to choose their own officers, who were responsible for "policing for health and comfort, the construction of new sinks when necessary, and the daily throwing in of lime and mould to prevent bad odors." None are traced in OCLC or at auction.
