Colonel John G. Hudson 33rdMissouri and First Iowa Infantry Regiment (African Descent) Identified by Roger Hunt and old pencil id on the verso. A scarce Missouri/Arkansas related image. Stains and wear. Back marked J. Tripp’s Cold Water, Mich.
Hudson was
a Union officer during the Civil War who won distinction for his actions during
the July 4, 1863, Battle of Helena and later was appointed as colonel of the
Sixtieth U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment, which saw all of its service in
Arkansas.
Hudson
moved to Missouri and, at age thirty, mustered in as captain of Company B,
Thirty-Third Missouri Infantry Regiment (US) on August 29, 1862. The
Thirty-Third was transferred to Helena (Phillips County) on January 5, 1863,
where the infantrymen were cross-trained to operate the artillery pieces at
Fort Curtis and the four hill-top batteries that controlled the roads leading
into town.
On July 4,
1863, Hudson was in command of the Union post at Battery D, the southernmost of
the fortifications defending Helena, when Brigadier General James F. Fagan’s
Confederates attacked. As the rebel assault faltered, Hudson called on
Confederates huddled at the base of Battery D to surrender. When asked by what
authority he asked for their surrender, Hudson replied: "By the authority of my
twelve-pound howitzer.” The Confederates capitulated.
On July 7,
1863, the U.S. War Department authorized the state of Iowa to recruit a
regiment of Black soldiers, and Hudson was selected to lead it. He was
appointed as colonel of the First Iowa Infantry Regiment (African Descent) on
September 21, 1863, though he did not formally muster out of the Thirty-Third
Missouri until December 3, 1863.
Hudson
apparently only took the field with the First Iowa (later designated the
Sixtieth U.S. Colored Infantry) once, leading the regiment on the August
29–September 3, 1864, expedition up the White River from Helena, which included
the Affair at Kendal’s Grist Mill. He served the remainder of the Civil War as
colonel of the Sixtieth U.S. Colored Infantry, mustering out on October 15,
1865.
Hudson
received a brevet promotion to brigadier general on October 9, 1867, to rank
from March 13, 1865, for "distinguished gallantry at the battle of Helena,
Ark., July 4, 1863.”