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.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 to Simon Cameron re: recommending Edward Ellsworth cousin of Elmer Ellsworth

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02840 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Place Written: Washington, District of Columbia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1861/08/08 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 21 cm, Width: 13 cm Order a Copy

Written as President to Secretary of War Cameron, asking for a commission for Ellsworth, first cousin of Col. Elmer Ellsworth. The Colonel was the first officer killed in the war.

Basler, Roy, P. The Collected Works Of Abraham Lincoln. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), Vol. IV 186 - 1861,
p. 479

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