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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.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806 to Timothy Pickering

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.10135 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry, 1750-1806 Place Written: West Point, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 10 September 1783 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 35 x 23.4 cm. Order a Copy

Major General Knox writes to Colonel Pickering, Quartermaster General. Discusses a chain, possibly the great chain that stretched across the Hudson River near West Point to prevent British ships from sailing upriver. Writes "From the information of Major Boyd, and from the opinions of others it may be concluded that the chain if painted and housed may be preserved a long time without any material injury. The chain is certainly a material part of the defence of this river, and consequently to all America..."

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829

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