Letters, original and transcribed, relating to the Civil War service and death from disease of John W. Wildermuth, who served with Company B, 25th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. Collection contains three and a half original letters and a poem written as a letter. In a letter to his parents dated April 17, 1863, Wildermuth described how his unit's adjutant bought a African-American slave who had killed his owner with the intent to hang him. Wildermuth, in a somewhat racist tone, went on to imply that law and justice were becoming more harsh for Whites than for Blacks. A letter to his brother Daniel included a little sketch of a Union soldier holding a rifle. A partial letter, written by his brother Henry Wildermuth of the 16th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment from Savannah, Georgia, mentioned his longing for home and news from home. An original handwritten poem, dated April 1864, extolled its readers to rely upon goodness and God. The collection also includes transcriptions of the original letters as well as additional letters from John to his parents and to Henry, as well as letters to the family informing them of John and Henry's deaths from disease. A letter dated November 19, 1862 touched upon the first duty of the 25th Wisconsin, marching to Minnesota in response to the "Indian uprising" in which several white settlers were killed by Native Americans. Subsequent letters mentioned operations around Vicksburg, including its surrender, and about men in his regiment dying of disease. A letter from the Captain of the 25th Regiment relayed information about John's death from "lung fever" in May 1864, and another letter told of Henry's death almost one year later. A final letter written in 1865 discussed the deaths of John and Henry as well as their mother's grief.
