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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.

Smith, David V.M., 1823-1863 to Elizabeth Smith and Charles C. Smith

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04189.19 Author/Creator: Smith, David V.M., 1823-1863 Place Written: Ellicott's Mills, Maryland Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1862/11/31 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope. Order a Copy

The regiment was excused from guard duty on Thanksgiving to attend church and a dress parade. Smith urges Charles to learn to write and to study geography. "I now see the need of understanding the geography and the map and then I could tell when I Read the papers where the different branches of our army is and how far they are from one another." He also describes the whipping of a black man. "I saw a Negro whiped the other day they tied him to the flag pole and foot and gave him 20 lashes each lash made him cry (O Lord) it looked hard but I believe it was Right for he had been stealing from the soldiers and he was one of the officers cooks." Continued 12/3.

Smith, David V.M., fl. 1862-1863
Smith, Elizabeth, fl. 1862-1863
Smith, Charles, fl. 1862-1863
Smith, John M., fl. 1862-1863

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