The Wilder mss., 1860-1868, consist of letters to Edson Adelman Wilder, 1845-1927, hardware merchant of Orland, Indiana, from his friends and relatives serving in the 100th regiment, Co. B., of the Indiana Infantry.

Topics discussed include camp conditions and the daily routine, the death of comrades, skirmishes and patrol duty, Negroes, transport down the Mississippi on the steamboat Iowa, and Morgan's Raid.

Two of the correspondents are his uncles: Charles Henry Wilder, the brother of his father, Orlando Wilder; and Otis M. Humphrey, his mother's brother, who served as an army physician from Massachusetts in Virginia and Baton Rouge.

The other correspondents are Charles C. Ellis, J. Monroe Haines, G.A. McKinley, and Henry M. Scott.

At Wilder's request, Scott wrote for the Lyceum on Mar. 1, 1864, a two-page report on The Generalship of the Fall Campaign of 1863, pertaining to William Tecumseh Sherman.

With the collection are a number of empty envelopes addressed chiefly to E.A. Wilder, at LaGrange Collegiate Institute, Ontario, Indiana; at Orland, Steuben County, Indiana; and at Albion, Michigan. Some are dated, ranging from 1862 to 1906, and are interfiled with the letters. Two are addressed to Jefferson L. Friend at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Note on Indexing Term - "Medicine": Of particular interest are four letters to Wilder from Otis Humphrey who served as an army physician.