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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.

Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881 to Wallace J. Ford

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00261 Author/Creator: Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881 Place Written: Decatur, Alabama Type: Autograph letter signed Date: July 3, 1862 Pagination: 3 p. : docket : envelope Height: 26 cm, Width: 19 cm Order a Copy

Then Brigadier General Garfield writes to a friend at home about "the congressional affair" shortly after he aided in the Battle of Corinth. He comments about his poor health and his weight loss. Back in Ohio, Garfield's friends were urging him to run for the 19th congressional district's seat, but he tells Ford he does not want his name "to go before a Convention at all unless there is more than an even chance that I would be successful." He describes military preparations for a Fourth of July celebration and the nearby Disciples of Christ, one of which he describes as a secessionist "Guerilla Captain, whom I should hang if I should catch him at his depredations." Garfield's poor health forced him to take a furlough later that month and in December he received the Republican nomination for congress. Written at the Headquarters of the 20th Brigade. Stamped envelope included.

Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
Ford, Wallace J., 1833-1916

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