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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.

Smith, Edmund Kirby, 1824-1893 to Braxton Bragg

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02456.27 Author/Creator: Smith, Edmund Kirby, 1824-1893 Place Written: Lexington, Kentucky Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 20 September 1862 Pagination: 1 p. : docket Height: 25 cm, Width: 20 cm Order a Copy

Writes to Bragg in order to send him a copy of "a special order of the enemy, taken from the Louisville Journal of the 18th." A newspaper clipping of "Special Orders No. 21," is attached. The order is a Union order regarding the building of fortifications around Louisville, Kentucky. The order states that all residents near Louisville must report "the number of slaves they will furnish" to assist in building the works and gives Colonel Dent the power to "impress a sufficient number of laborers." The order was given by Union General Jeremiah Boyle.

Bragg, Braxton, 1817-1876
Smith, Edmund Kirby, 1824-1893
Boyle, Jeremiah Tilford, 1818-1871

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