This letter was written by two soldiers serving as privates in Co. H, 67th Indiana Infantry while being held prisoner at Camp Morton near Indianapolis in November 1862. The letter had been previously sold as having been written by Confederate soldiers but the content suggested Union to me which led me to the discovery of their identity. Co. H and most all of the 67th Indiana Infantry—yet raw and untrained—participated in the Battle of Munfordville in Kentucky in mid-September 1862 where they were all captured. Too many prisoners for Confederate military prisons to handle, they were paroled and sent back to Indianapolis to await exchange. That exchange did not occur until early December 1862, when the regiment headed west to the Mississippi River to become part of the Vicksburg campaign.

Co. H. was recruited from Lawrence county in southern Indiana and it was here that I found our two boys. Alexander Edwards (1844-1923) was the son of Henderson Edwards but seems to have been raised by the Cox family. He married Sarah Jane Pipher (1846-1915) in 1874.

Richard Cox (1844-1917) was the son of Alexander and Mary Cox of Spice Valley. Lawrence county, Indiana. This letter was written to Richard’s younger brother, William D. Cox (b. 1846).

Transcription

Camp Morton
Indianapolis [Indiana]
November 9th 1862

Dear Brother,

I take my pen in hand to let you know that I am well and I hope when these few lines come to hand, they may find you well and doing well. I would like to see [you] the best kind. I would like to come home and spend a few more days with you and I hope when the day will come when I can come home to stay with you.

I can say to you that we are exchanged and I guess that we will not stay here long. This is the muddiest place I ever seen. We like to swimmed off last night.

You must write to me and let me know how you are getting along. I guess that I have wrote all that is of any use. I will close by asking you to write to me. This from R. Cox to D. Cox.

This from your dear brother to my dear brother. Write soon as you get this.

A few lines from A. E. D. Cox to let you know that I am well and I hope when these few lines comes to hand, they may find you well and doing well.

Well, Dave, you must hug and kiss the girls for me and tell them how that I love them and you can guess how I love them. I do hope when the time will come when I can come home and go to the little red house.

We are exchanged and bound for Dixie. I must close. The boys has come in and I can’t write to do no good and I will close by asking you to write. This from Alexander Edward to William D. Cox

When this you see, remember me. Write soon as you get this and don’t forget to write about the girls.