Our Collection

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.

Saunders, J. C. Jr., fl. 1862 to George Wortham

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02233.16 Author/Creator: Saunders, J. C. Jr., fl. 1862 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 27 December 1862 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 14.5 cm, Width: 14.5 cm Order a Copy

Written from "Gill's Signal Station." Saunders writes as the Sergeant in command of the Station: "I send…a man who came to my station today. He says he is from Philadelphia and just out of "Castle Thunder" Richmond. I do not think he is altogether right, as contradicted himself several times in his statements." Castle Thunder in Richmond was a tobacco warehouse converted into a prison during the Civil War. Prisoners, many of whom were under sentence of death, were primarily civilians, they included violent criminals, Union sympathizers, and spies, among them Dr. Mary E. Walker.

Saunders, J. C. Jr., fl. 1862
Wortham, George, fl. 1823-1883

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources