George Uhlich was as soldier from Mansfield, Ohio who served in the 102nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.). In his letters, Uhlich often wrote about Mansfield and fellow soldiers from the Mansfield area. He described life in the South, the treatment of slaves, and the reaction to the Union soldiers. Uhlich's regiment spent some time in Kentucky before moving to Clarksburg, Tennessee, where they spent almost ten months.

On September 24, 1864, George Uhlich was taken prisoner near Athens, Alabama. Uhlich was sent to Cahaba Prison Camp, where he spent the next six months. Although Captain H.A.M. Henderson, the commander of Cahaba Prison Camp and a Methodist minister, was known as a humane and fair officer, conditions in the camp were harsh. The camp's water supply was polluted, supplies were so low the men were forced to live on a cup of cornmeal a day, and disease was rampant. Uhlich survived six months at Cahaba before he learned that he would be part of a prisoner exchange, arranged in April 1865. The steamship Sultana set out for Union territory on April 27, 1865. On the voyage home, Uhlich and more than 1700 of the 2000 prisoners were killed in an explosion that destroyed the ship.

The five letters included here, all written on folded pages measuring 10" x 8" (26 x 20 cm) are part of a collection of 65 letters written by Uhlich. The library purchased this collection from the Ohio Bookhunter in 1980.