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The Cosner papers document the experience of a middle-aged Union soldier serving with the 21st Ohio Infantry during the Civil War.

Cosner's letters reflect his rather unusual position as a middle-aged soldier. Sixteen of the 18 letters in the collection were written to his wife, Ann B. Cosner, and the other two were addressed to his daughter, Martha, one in 1880. Cosner's handwriting suggests that he was not an experienced letter-writer, nor are his descriptive skills well developed, seldom advancing beyond straightforward comments and never at length. Cosner's letters, however, do reflect the attitudes of many pious, honest soldiers trying to live a Christian life in the middle of a seemingly godless war, and, unusually, display an open reticence about entering combat.

This collection consists of Clarice A. Bouton's transcriptions of the Civil War reminiscences of her grandfather, Albert G. Fuller. Fuller, a native of Reading, Michigan, served in the 78th New York Infantry Regiment, Company K, and participated in actions including the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, and Sherman's March to the Sea.

This collection consists of Clarice A. Bouton's transcriptions (8 pages) of the Civil War reminiscences of her grandfather, Albert G. Fuller. Fuller recounted many incidents from his time in the 78th New York Infantry Regiment, which he joined on March 20, 1862, with three friends from his hometown of Reading, Michigan: Lemuel Wisner, William Herrington, and William Green, all killed during the war. He discussed his regiment's movements and marches, his time in hospitals recuperating from bullet wounds, and his participation in battles, skirmishes, and Sherman's March to the Sea. He described wounded soldiers lying in their tents, nursed by other soldiers; the interruption of his meal immediately prior to the Battle of Peachtree Creek; the harsh treatment and execution of three deserters; and the Union Army's destructive practices while marching from Atlanta to Savannah.

Fuller noted the deaths and disappearances of his hometown friends and recalled his recuperation in hospitals in York, Pennsylvania, after the Battle of Gettysburg, and Savannah, Georgia, in 1864; while in York, he attended a political speech that was disrupted by gunfire, resulting in a panic and further injuries to his wounded leg. Fuller's account ends with his discharge on June 2, 1865, and his return to the family farm on June 20, 1865, where he resumed work immediately upon his arrival.