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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.

Van Buren, Daniel T., 1826-1890 to John M. Cuyler

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04511 Author/Creator: Van Buren, Daniel T., 1826-1890 Place Written: Hampton, Virginia Type: Autograph note signed Date: 7 July 1862 Pagination: 1 p. : docket Height: 20.5 cm, Width: 12.5 cm Order a Copy

Suggesting that contrabands, formerly enslaved people who had escaped to the Union army, be tasked with collecting corpses. "It is suggested that Contrabands be Employed to bring down & put in the waggons the dead bodies which, Emit these foul discharges over the clothes of these soldiers, and also that they accompany the bodies to the graves for the purpose of lifting them from the waggons at that place." The original complaint regarding the "foul discharges" is noted on the docket. Written at Fort Monroe

Van Buren, Daniel Thompkins, 1826-1890
Cuyler, John Meck, 1810-1884

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