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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

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29 April 1863

Benham, Henry Washington, 1813-18884

Manuscript document

Title: [Draft report on a failed bridge building assignment]

Clerically written on "Headquarters Engineer Brigade" letterhead, near Falmouth, Virginia.

GLC00919.13

May 1, 1863

Benham, Henry Washington, 1813-1884

Manuscript letter

Title: Draft of battle report on an engineering operation

Battle report on an engineering operation. Letter clerically written near Falmouth, Virginia.

GLC00919.14

October 5, 1863

Benham, Henry Washington, 1813-18884

Manuscript letter

Title: to Francis Blair

Letter clerically written to General Blair. Discusses the plan for seizure of Charleston, South Carolina, to be presented to Lincoln Camp at Rappahannock. Letter written from the Camp at Rappahannock, likely in Virginia.

GLC00919.15

November 23, 1863

Benham, Henry Washington, 1813-18884

Manuscript letter

Title: to Joseph Totten

Letter clerically written from Washington, D.C. to General Totten, regarding a plan for rebuilding bridges.

GLC00919.16

circa 1862

Benham, Henry Washington, 1813-18884

Title: [Print of camp of H. W. Benham's engineering brigade]

GLC00919.18

1865 ca.

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Photograph

Title: Brady carte de visite

GLC00919.20

June 12, 1865

Benham, Henry Washington, 1813-18884

Autograph note signed

Title: to unknown

Recommendation of Elias W. Beach by Assistant Adjutant General Channing Clapp with a note and endorsement by General Benham.

GLC00919.22

January 24, 1801

Adams, John, 1735-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to George Churchman and Jacob Lindley

Letter written by Adams in the last months of his presidency to the Quaker abolitionists Churchman and Lindley. Adams wrote in response to a letter and pamphlet that the two abolitionists had sent him. The pamphlet was by Quaker abolitionist Warner Mifflin (1745-1798). He expresses his views on slavery. Says "Although I have never sought by any animated speeches or inflammatory publications against the Slavery of the Blacks, my Opinion against it has always been known and my practice has been So conformable to my Sentiment that I have always employed freemen both as Domisticks and Labourers,…

GLC00921

April 4, 1834

Crockett, David "Davy", 1786-1836

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Drurey

Attacks Jackson concerning the Bank of the US and compares him to Julius Caesar. The "despot" Jackson and "little Judas" Van Buren.

GLC00931

February 18, 1793

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Beverley Randolph

Secretary of State Jefferson writes to Randolph, a former Virginia Governor and a commissioner to the Indians of the northwest frontier, to request (with the blessing of President George Washington) that he represent the South at an "assembly of the Northern & Western Indians is to be held at Sanduskey in the approaching spring." He comments that "It will be the greatest collection of Indians (about 3000) which has ever taken place, and from very distant & various parts." Notes that he believes "the public interest intimately concerned in the conducting of this treaty" and hopes that…

GLC00936

03 May 1834

Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845

Document signed

Title: [Presidential appointment of James Dunlop, William O'Neale, and Thomas Carbery as inspectors of the District of Columbia penitentiary]

Countersigned by Secretary of State Louis McLane. With two engraved portraits of Andrew Jackson. One bust engraving of Jackson included as collateral.

GLC00937

November 24, 1863

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Autograph letter signed

Title: to William H. Seward

Letter is on Executive Mansion stationery, and discusses news of the Siege of Knoxville. Four days after the address at Gettysburg.

GLC00940

January 3, 1899

McKinley, William, 1843-1901

Document signed

Title: [Presidential pardon of Bay-bah-Maush who had been convicted of resisting arrest in October 1898 and sentenced to 8 months in Otter Tail County Jail]

Bay-bah-Maush, an Indian, was pardoned by McKinley. No reason for pardon mentioned. Countersigned by Attorney General John W. Griggs.

GLC00943

December 16, 1782

Washington, George, 1732-1799

Letter signed

Title: to William Stephens Smith

Letter in hand of aide-de-camp Benjamin Walker, and written to Smith, the Commissary of Prisoners to the Army. References Smith's letter from December 12, 1782. Thanks him for intelligence it contains. Disagrees with Smith's assessment on Dobbs Ferry. Says it can withstand a small surprise attack and that it was never designed to deal with a large attack. Says the daily intercourse between the inhabitants "of the lower country" with the enemy is alarming and should be broken up. Would like suggestions on how to do that. At this point, after the American victory at Yorktown, Dobbs Ferry was…

GLC00949

July 26, 1924

Mitchell, William E., 1879-1936

Typed letter signed

Title: to Lester D. Gardner

Letter signed as Brigadier General, Air Service, Assistant Chief of Air Service. Advises that he will come to New York as soon as possible but that he has to have his tonsils out. He remarks that the Air Force "has almost ceased to exist ... " and believes that the Air Force needs to separate from the Army and Navy. He thinks that American navy power could easily be destroyed by Japan's air power. In his opinion, protecting the sea is the "only sure method of national defense that we have at the present time ... " Letter typed on note stationery of the War Department, Air Service, Washington.

GLC00950

23 November 1864

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Autograph endorsement signed

Title: [Endorsement on a letter by Governor Pierpont]

Lincoln endorsement on the address leaf of a letter to Lincoln, from Francis H. Pierpont dated 23 November 1864. In the letter, Pierpont states he would be relieved if Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant had a meeting. Lincoln replies, "My time is of indespensable importance to me now; but I will see Gov. Pierpoint with Gen. Grant now if he calls."

GLC00951

06 May 1875

Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

Document signed

Title: [Presidential authority to the Secretary of State to affix the seal to the pardon of C.A. Hayne].

GLC00956

April 20, 1865

Brady, Mathew B., 1823-1896

Photograph

Title: [Robert E. Lee and staff]

Photographed on Lee's back porch in Richmond, shortly after his surrender at Appomattox, Virginia. Depicts General Robert E. Lee with his son, Brigadier General George Washington Custis Lee, and Colonel Walter H. Taylor, Lee's aide-de-camp during the Civil War. Lee is seated, flanked by the other men.

GLC00957

September 21, 1789

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Bridge

Adams chronicles a trip to New York to visit the first United States Congress. Adams describes his interactions with a man named Atkins and another named Mr. Mayer in Newport. He also describes various passengers on the ship he took to New York. In New York, Adams heard speakers in the House of Representatives discuss various topics. He comments on the lower than expected level of eloquence, expressing confidence that he and Bridge will be great statesmen. He notes that Gerry Jackson of Georgia and Aedanus Burke of South Carolina speak most, and Ames, Madison and Vinning speak best.…

GLC00958.05

September 11, 1794

Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848

Autograph letter signed

Title: to James Bridge

Adams apologizes for delay in notifying Bridge that President Washington has appointed Adams minister to the Netherlands. Adams will not be able to attend to business Bridge had given him. Adams left much of his unfinished business to a former classmate at Harvard named Beale, and discusses some of his unfinished cases. He suggests a way to settle the debts that Adams and Bridge owed to each other. He mentions the case of Cowdin and Maynard that Adams was involved in. He bids Bridge farewell, reaffirms their friendship, requests continued correspondence, and urges him to join public life.

GLC00958.10