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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.

Jackson, Edwin, fl. 1862-1865 to William Jackson

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00203.01 Author/Creator: Jackson, Edwin, fl. 1862-1865 Place Written: Granite Falls, Minnesota Type: Autograph letter signed Date: October 12, 1862 Pagination: 4 p. : Height: 25 cm, Width: 21.5 cm Order a Copy

Edwin Jackson writes to tell Bill that he and his brother, Henry, enlisted in the Army in August and have been fighting the Dakota Indians. He graphically describes the dead left by the Dakota attacks on settlers, including a German family and a pregnant woman. He writes about being in two different battles, the Battle of Fort Ridgely and Battle of Wood Lake; he describes combat and how many dead and wounded there were on each side. He declares that the Indian War is over and asks Bill to write him, which he continues to do in virtually every other letter in the collection. Written at Camp Yellow Medicine.

Jackson, Edwin, fl. 1862-1865
Jackson, William, fl. 1861-1865
Little Crow, -1863
Jackson, Henry, fl. 1861-1864

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