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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.

Comstock, Cyrus Ballou, 1831-1910 to Edward Ortho Cresap Ord

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01951 Author/Creator: Comstock, Cyrus Ballou, 1831-1910 Place Written: Washington, District of Columbia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 21 November 1866 Pagination: 3 p. : Height: 20.3 cm, Width: 25.2 cm Order a Copy

Serving as senior aide-de-camp to General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant, Comstock authorizes General Ord to move soldiers from Little Rock to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Referring to reconstruction policies, informs Ord that "It is impossible for the General-in-Chief to give instructions which shall guide you in all extraordinary and exceptional cases; whenever such cases come within the provisions of the Civil Rights Bill, Freedmans Bureau Bill, or other laws, these laws must be your guide." Instructs Ord to return property to pre-war ownership, and to suppress all robbers and bushwhackers in his department. States that Ord's judgment will be supported by Grant as General-in-Chief.

Comstock, Cyrus Ballou, 1831-1910
Ord, Edward Otho Cresap, 1818-1883
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

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