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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.

Union soldiers dismantling Confederate fort posed on cannon

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05111.01.1011 Author/Creator: Place Written: Petersburg, Virginia Type: Photograph Date: circa 1861-1865 Pagination: 1 photograph Height: 7.9 cm, Width: 7.9 cm Order a Copy

The image shows Union soldiers sitting on and standing near two cannon, one soldier in the center possibly African-American, with fortification earthworks in the background. Inscription on verso: "Dismantling the Rebel Forts, Petersburg, Va."

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