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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.

Detterline, Hiram, fl. 1862 to John Reeser

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03523.43.05 Author/Creator: Detterline, Hiram, fl. 1862 Place Written: Saint Helena Island, South Carolina Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 29 December 1862 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope Height: 20.2 cm, Width: 25.3 cm Order a Copy

Writes to Reeser wishing him well. States they will be heading to Richmond, Virginia. Comments on the boys being in good health and ready to fight the Confederates. Mentions hearing General Ambrose E. Burnside being defeated along the Potomac. Remarks on being in the Union army for sixteen months and being sick half of the time and wanting to take his ranks in the 97th regiment. Describes spending Christmas target shooting, having a foot race, wheelbarrow match, jig dancing, and tying "nigros" hands behind their back and having them search for a coin with their mouth out of a cornmeal-filled tub. There is a Hiram Detterline listed in the Pennsylvania 97th infantry; possibly the same man.

Detterline, Hiram, fl. 1862
Reeser, John, fl. 1862-1865
Burnside, Ambrose Everett, 1824-1881

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