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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.

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897 to Eliza Cook

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02570.30 Author/Creator: Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897 Place Written: Knoxville, Tennessee Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 27 October 1862 Pagination: 4 p. Order a Copy

Discusses camp news and recent campaigns. Includes a graphic description of the aftermath of the battle of Perryville: "Such slaughter I never dreamed of. Any where on the field you could stand still and count from one to two hundred dead men in a hundred yards. Everywhere they lay in great heaps and whole lines lay dead side by side as they stood in line of battle. We slept on the field and no where could one lie down without almost touching the mangled corpses of the dead invaders." Discusses money matters, "Take nothing from the county." Asks Eliza to pay back whatever she has borrowed from the county because he will send her enough money. Was written near Knoxville, Tennessee.

Cooke, Gustave, fl. 1861-1865

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