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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.

Knap, Jabez, 1752-1825 to his wife Hannah Ball

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01450.190.01 Author/Creator: Knap, Jabez, 1752-1825 Place Written: Peekskill, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: July 16, 1778 Pagination: 2 p. : address : docket ; Height: 21 cm, Width: 15 cm Order a Copy

Marching for White Plains, and hopes to winter in New England. The British are in New York, though they are expected to decamp soon. The French have a great deal of shipping in New York and "tease" the British. Hears the town of Taunton, Massachussets, from where just was, is now offering a fifty pound bounty for Continental soldiers, and asks her to go and collect it for him. Letter is addressed to himself, but was clearly intended for his wife, Hannah Ball. The first line reads "Dear wife."

Knap, Jabez, 1752-1801
Knap, Hannah Ball, fl. 1778

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