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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.

Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, 1816-1894 to Ulysses S. Grant

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03374 Author/Creator: Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, 1816-1894 Place Written: Port Hudson, Louisiana Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 08 July 1863 Pagination: 1 p. : Height: 32 cm, Width: 21 cm Order a Copy

Apparently a telegram. Major General Banks, commander of the Department of the Gulf, sends word to Major General Grant, commander of the Department of the Tennessee, to announce the capture of Port Hudson, Louisiana. This letter marks the advent of unfettered Union control of the Mississippi River. The Vicksburg garrison had surrendered to Grant on July 4, four days prior to this note.

Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, 1816-1894
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885

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