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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.

Custer, George Armstrong, 1839-1876 to Colonel Colburn

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00932 Author/Creator: Custer, George Armstrong, 1839-1876 Place Written: Sharpsburg, Maryland Type: Autograph letter signed Date: September 18, 1862 Pagination: 2 p. ; 13.2 x 9.2 cm. Order a Copy

Pencilled letter written during the Battle of Antietam on stationary marked "Head Quarters, Army of the Potomac." States "We have just captured one three inch gun and its Caisson on the road from the Hagerstown Pike to Sharpstown. Col. Hunt had better send out for it. We cannot take it with us." Note written just after Custer, without orders, led a company of men against a weak point in the Confederate line, routed them, and took a number of their cannons. While this action would prove irrelevant to the larger battle, it helped to establish Custer's reputation for bold action, a trait he would become quite well known for. Colonel Hunt was Henry Jackson Hunt.

Custer, George Armstrong, 1839-1876
Colburn, Albert V., 1831-1863
Hunt, Henry Jackson, 1819-1889

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