Collection #

P0300

camp joe holt jeffersonville, indiana
photographs, ca. 1865

Collection Information

Historical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Contents

Cataloging Information

Processed by

Dorothy A. Nicholson
Volunteer, Robert W. Smith
March 2006

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF COLLECTION:	1 OVB box of photographs, 6 copy negatives
COLLECTION DATES:	Ca. 1865
PROVENANCE:	Jeffersonville Township Public Library, 1961
RESTRICTIONS:	Negatives may be viewed with assistance of library staff.
COPYRIGHT:
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS:	Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.
ALTERNATE FORMATS:
RELATED HOLDINGS:	Powers, Elvira J. Hospital Pencillings. Boston: Deward L. Mitchell, 1866. General Collection: E621.P38 1866. Lewis C. Webber’s Diary, 1864–1866. SC 2742.
ACCESSION NUMBER:	1961.0030
NOTES:

historicaL SKETCH

The first military occupation at Jeffersonville, Indiana was in 1862 when two area regiments established a camp on a farm owned by Blanton Duncan. Lovell Rousseau, the organizer of the regiments, christened the camp “Camp Joe Holt.” The name was retained when it ceased to be a camp and became a hospital, called throughout the war “Joe Holt Hospital.” During the war, besides the hospital, the government also erected warehouses, shops, barracks, stables, blacksmith shops, a laundry, and a bakery.

Jefferson General Hospital “Joe Holt Hospital” opened 21 February 1864 and closed in December 1866. Located about one-half-mile west of Jeffersonville on land obtained from U.S. Senator Jesse D. Bright, the acreage reached down to the Ohio River, facilitating patient transfer from riverboats to the hospital. The health facility had 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. The third largest hospital in the country and a showpiece for the Union army, Jefferson General reputedly was one of the finest in the United States for the care of wounded and sick servicemen. During the almost three years that the hospital was in existence the institution cared for more than 16,000 patients and served more than 2,500,000 meals.

First person accounts of life at the Jefferson General Hospital can be found in two separate diaries at the Indiana Historical Society Library. One is the published book, Hospital Pencillings by Elvira J. Powers. A volunteer and employee at the hospital, she wrote of the conditions at the hospital and her experiences there. The second is the collection SC2742, Louis C. Webber’s Diary, 1864–1866, a soldier who was wounded three times and was a patient there for a while.

Sources:

Baird, Lewis C., Baird’s History of Clark County, Indiana. Evansville, Ind.: Unigraphic, 1972.

Eckerman, Nancy Pippen. Indiana in the Civil War: Doctors, Hospitals, and Medical Care. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2001.

History of the Ohio Falls Cities and Their Counties. Evansville, Ind.: Unigraphic, 1968.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The collection contains images of several buildings on the grounds at Camp Joe Holt in Jeffersonville, Indiana. There are 7 large mounted photographs, 1 half-tone print of the Jeffersonville Hospital, and a photograph of the print. One note of interest, the photograph of Camp Joe Holt is a segmented panoramic view, two separate photographs taken side by side and pasted together to make one wide view. The images in the photographs date from circa 1865. There are also copy negatives of 6 of the photographs.

The Contents section of the collection guide contains descriptions in quotation marks “ ”.  These are taken from notes that were written on the verso of the photographs. The processor’s comments are in square brackets [ ].

CONTENTS

CONTENTS	CONTAINER
“Jeffersonville, Jefferson General Hospital, Looking West.” [Photograph and printed half-tone, with hand-written key identifying buildings, Louisville, and Ohio River]	OVB Photographs: Box 1, Folder 1
“Camp Joe Holt at Ohio Falls, Fronting on the Ohio, West of Jeffersonville” [Segmented Panoramic View]	OVB Photographs: Box 1, Folder 2
“Barracks for Company of Infantry, Corner Wall & Maple Streets, Present Site of German R. C. Church Lot” [Wood frame building with soldiers on porch]	OVB Photographs: Box 1, Folder 3
“U. S. Govt. Stables above Meigs Ave. bet[ween] 7th and 8th” [Several long white barns]	OVB Photographs: Box 1, Folder 4
“Blacksmith and Wagon Repair shop, Present right of Court House lot, Court and Meigs Ave. Jeffersonville” [Two wood frame buildings with workmen standing out front]	OVB Photographs: Box 1, Folder 5
“Jefferson General Hospital Laundry and Engin [sic] House situated on the river bank east of Jeffersonville” [Two wood frame buildings, smaller one has tall chimney]	OVB Photographs: Box 1, Folder 6
“Tank house just above the Jefferson General Hospital, Band House to left.” [Two wood frame buildings]	OVB Photographs: Box 1, Folder 7
“Barrack at Jefferson General Hospital” [White wood frame buildings]	OVB Photographs: Box 1, Folder 8
6 copy negatives of the photographs in folders 3–8	4x5 Acetate Negatives: [1–6]

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog:  http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3. Select  "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, P0300).

5. When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.