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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.

Kappes, Charles, fl. 1864 to Sim Van Winkel

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04635 Author/Creator: Kappes, Charles, fl. 1864 Place Written: Annapolis, Maryland Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 16 September 1864 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope Height: 20.4 cm, Width: 25 cm Order a Copy

Kappes, a Union soldier waiting for his discharge in the Annapolis United States General Hospital, relates the events of his capture to friends in New Jersey. Reports that while engaged in battle near Richmond, Virginia, his corps was surrounded by Confederate soldiers and forced to surrender, after which he was taken as a prisoner. Complains of poor conditions prisoners were exposed to while on Belle Island, near Richmond, stating "I was almost starved and then such rations as they do give why the farmers of the north would not be guilty of giving it to his hogs if he did the old Pig would turn up her snout ..." Written on United States Sanitary Commission stationery and accompanied by a Commission envelope labeled "Soldiers Letter."

Kappes, Charles, fl. 1864
Van Winkel, Sim, fl. 1864

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