[CIVIL WAR]. BLAKEMAN, James Henry (1841-ca. 1918). Manuscript Diary of a Soldier in the 17th Connecticut Regiment, with Descriptions of His Time in Hospital Due to Measles and His Time in Florida During the Palatka Campaign. [Stratford, CT: 1864]. 32mo. [16, printed reference including an almanac, 120 pages with dated entries (3 entries per page), [6, Memoranda] pp. All dated pages with manuscript entries in pencil. Approximately 122 x 80 mm. Bound in contemporary full limp diced russia wallet-style binding (worn, soiled, hinges cracked, text generally toned, inner covers worn, torn, text lightly wrinkled with occasional soiling). Nearly the first half of this diary consists of Blakeman’s time in a Connecticut hospital suffering from measles which affected most of his regiment. Then after his recovery in late May, his regiment was sent to St. Augustine, FL, by boat. He describes the later action at Palatka on Thursday July 28: “Were ordered in at midnight & at daylight went and board the E. P. Hale bound for Palatka. Arrived drove out a rebel picket & took possession about noon. Detailed an artillery at night.” Another entry of note is one that took place at their camp (not at Palatka) on Monday October 10: “The reb prisoners taken last week left this morning under a n—r guard for Hilton Head” (at this general time rebel prisoners came and went from his camp). His entries describe the day’s weather, camp life (including a time near the end of September when their rations became short). Blakeman had evidently recovered from being wounded at Gettysburg the previous year, as he doesn’t mention it.