Married on 04 Aug 1873 in Millville, Columbia Co, PA.

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The Emporia Gazette, 26 Jun 1913, Thursday

GETTYSBURG SURVIVORS IN EMPORIA

Bill Gilchrist, who went hiking back to Pennsylvania this week to attend the Gettysburg reunion, is not the only survivor of the Battle of Gettysburg, who lives in Emporia, though he is the only one who will attend the reunion. Nine other Emporia Old Boys were in that fierce three-day fight, and three of them wore the gray. The Union soldiers are Xenophon Gamble, of the 140th Pennsylvania Regiment; Adam Bitler, 106th Pennsylvania; I. N. Wells, 7th West Virginia; Nathan Benson, 72d New York; William Brooks, 66th Ohio, and John Allen, 7th Ohio.

The Confederate soldiers who now are Emporia men are Capt. W. T. McCarty, of Rogers's Artillery, of Farquier County, Va.; John T. Eskridge, of the Fifth Regiment of Haynes's Louisiana Tigers, and W. M. Barber, who was a teamster in the 4th Virginia.

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The Emporia Weekly Gazette, 05 Jun 1930

Adam Bitler, who is the only charter member of Preston B. Plumb Post No. 55 [GAR], living, enlisted in Company F, 106th Pennsylvania Infantry, at Philadelphia, September 12, 1861. The regiment was camped near Philadelphia for three weeks and then went to Portsville, Va., where the men were drilled. Their first fighting was at Ball's Bluff, then Harper's Ferry, where they did guard duty for a few weeks. The regiment wintered at Ferrysburg, and then came to Antietam, where Mr. Bitler was slightly wounded. He was in the battles of Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg and then the Union army followed Lee to Gettysburg and Mr. Bitler was in the second and third days of that battle.

He was in the engagements at Peach Orchard and Savage Station in the seven days battle at Fair Oaks; in the battles of Malvern Hill, Bristoe Station, second Spottsylvania Courthouse, Mine Run, Cold Harbor, Munson, Harris Hill, and Fort Steadman. He was in dozens of skirmishes of which no account was kept.

At Petersburg Mr. Bitler was captured by the Confederates and taken with hundreds of other men to Libby prison. He got out of the prison and back to war but not until he had had many harrowing trials.

Mr. and Mrs. Bitler live at 1109 West Ninth.

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The Emporia Weekly Gazette, 11 June 1931

ADAM BITER DEAD

Adam Bitler was born August 31, 1844, at Schuylkill, Pa., where he grew to manhood. He enlisted in the Union army and served throughout the Civil war. He was just 20 years old when the war closed. He was married to Miss Martha Smith, at Milton, Pa., in 1873, and shortly after the wedding they came to Kansas, and settled on a farm near Olpe. They moved there for thirty-seven years and moved to Emporia in 1910.

The young Pennsylvanian enlisted in Company F, 196th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry at Philadelphia, September 12, 1861. The regiment was camped near Philadelphia for three weeks and then went to Portsville, Va., where the men were drilled. Adam Bitler's first fighting was at Ball's Bluff. Then they went to Harper's Ferry, where he did guard duty for three weeks. The regiment wintered at Ferrysburg and then went to Antietam, where Mr. Bitler was wounded slightly. He was in the battles of Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg and when the Union army went to Gettysburg, following General Lee, he was along, fighting in the second and third days of that battle.

He was in the engagements at Peach Orchard and Savage Station, in the seven days' battle at Fair Oaks, in the battles of Malvern Hill, Bristoe Station, second Spottsylvania Courthouse, Mine Run, Cold Harbor, Munson, Harris Hill and Fort Steadman. He was in dozens of skirmishes of which no accounts were kept.

At Petersburg Mr. Bitler was captured by the Confederates and was taken with hundreds of other Union men to the famous Libby prison. He finally got out of the prison and back into the war.

Adam Bitler was a life-long member of the Methodist church and had been a leader in the G.A.R. since he helped for the Plumb post, while he was still a farmer in the southern part of the county. He is survived by Mrs. Bitler, and by nine children: Mrs. Zella Brady, Mrs. May Jones, Bruce Bitler, Wallace Bitler, and Harry Bitler, of Emporia; Milton Bitler, of Smolan; Mrs. Grace Saxon, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Roy Bitler, of Ponca City, Okla., and Ralph Bitler, of Denver, two children are dead. A sister, Mrs. Elmira Smith, who lived in Pennsylvania, also survives.

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The Emporia Weekly Gazette, 11 June 1931

ADAM BITLER

The thin blue line is getting thinner. Adam Bitler died Thursday. He was the last of the charter members of the Preston B. Plumb Post No. 55 of the Grand Army of the Republic. Since the post was organized back in the eighties, many other Union soldiers have joined the post and the passing of Adam Bitler does not mean the passing of the post. Still a score remain of the "young stalwarts of sixty-one" on the posts roster. But, Adam Bitler's death does, clearly, mean a milestone in the history of the post, one of the last milestones--toward the end.

Adam Bitler was a typical "old soldier." After the war was over he married, came west to Kansas from his native Pennsylvania, settling west of Olpe, in 1873. He and Mrs. Bitler lived on the Lyon County farm for thirty-seven years--a long and happy and useful life. Forty years ago Olpe was known as Bitlertown and Bitlers grew there on every bush, and on nearby farms other Bitlers thrived. It was on that farm that the Bitlers raised their nine children, all industrious and capable.

But his greatest distinction came to him as a G.A.R. man; when he marched in the parade and wore the blue uniform with the brass buttons and slouch cap of a great service. The old Grand Army man sleeps in his last bivouac!