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.

Sayles, Sumner, fl. 1862-1868 to Isora Skinkle

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03523.32.35 Author/Creator: Sayles, Sumner, fl. 1862-1868 Place Written: Memphis, Tennessee Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 14 June 1864 Pagination: 3p. : envelope Height: 20.2 cm, Width: 31.8 cm Order a Copy

Writes to his sister. Reports on the casualties they received during a recent battle. Discusses the various men that were either killed or wounded, including their colonel. Describes his colonel as being one of the best and that "some of the boys cried like babies when they heard that he was killed." Comments that the rough march up the Red River was nothing compared to this last march. Describes marching for two nights and one day without halting more than an hour at a time. Writes that he does not know how many men they lost but they "are cut to pieces pretty bad."

Sayles, Sumner, fl. 1862-1868
Skinkle, Isora, fl. 1860-1868

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources