Michael Adler papers

The Michael Adler papers consist of seventeen letters from the American Civil War along with related literary and printed materials. The letters were written by Michael Adler, from 1863 to 1865, to his girlfriend and future wife Catherine E. Reeves of Canton, Ohio. The letters begin in August 1863 discussing Michael's illness with Ague or Typhoid Fever along with other men in his regiment, the 32nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Letters from 1863 talk about the Ohio gubernatorial election and the despised candidacy of Copperhead Clement L. Vallandigham, Copperheads in general and the re-enlistment of the regiment.

Subsequent letters from 1864 and 1865 discuss the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, the pursuit of Johnson's Army through the Carolinas and preparations for the Grand Review of the Army through Washington D.C. An interesting letter from August 22, 1864, describes in detail the siege of Atlanta. Most of the content of the letters, however, deals with Michael's yearning desire to once again see his girlfriend and future wife Kate, to whom the letters are all addressed. The twenty-three year old Michael talks about how the war has aged him, writing "…if you should see me walking around now you would think me fifty years old." He also bitterly complains about the lack and the low quality of food after the war has ended. Additional letters mention the troubles brewing over U.S.-Mexican relations and the possibility of armed intervention, but claiming he would rather resign than go "abroad;" writing four years of war "is enough to satisfy the most ambitious of men."

Other materials consist of a memorial resolution passed by the Canton Commandery of the Knights Templar in remembrance of Michael Adler after his death in May 1886. Also included is a ten dollar Confederates States of America bank note printed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1864.