Scope and Contents:
This collection contains a 1927 typescript of the Civil War diary of Jacob Adams, Private, Co. F, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
Jacob Adams was born in Hancock County, Ohio on March 30, 1842. He enlisted as a recruit to the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry in January of 1862. After the war, Adams married Belle Philip in 1870 and had three daughters. He worked as a schoolteacher for some time and later bought a farm near Ayersville, Ohio. Jacob Adams died in 1930.
The diary includes a foreword and biographical sketch of Jacob Adams written in 1927 by H.M. Povenmire, the son of Mahlon Povemire, a soldier who served in the same regiment as Adams. The diary also includes two photographs of Jacob Adams and a photograph of Mahlon Povenmire. During the war, Adams wrote many "letters" to his family in the form of diary entries. The diary entries were written between 1862 and 1865. In 1924, he copied these entries into a new diary, and H.M. Povenmire created this typescript from the new diary in 1927. In the diary he also included memories of army life, the effect of the war on both soldiers and civilians, and his own thoughts and feelings about the war. The diary includes poems written by Adams' daughter, Delle Adams Moats, about the war and the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
The Library purchased this collection in 2002.