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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.

Crenshaw, O. A., fl. 1845-1864 to James Alexander Seddon

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06374 Author/Creator: Crenshaw, O. A., fl. 1845-1864 Place Written: Richmond, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 14 March 1864 Pagination: 1 p. : docket Height: 23.3 cm, Width: 20.2 cm Order a Copy

Crenshaw, a surgeon, requests that Seddon allow James Bolling, a free African American from Charles City, Virginia, to remain in Crenshaw's employment as a fisherman. Informs Seddon, Confederate Secretary of War, that "Fish are necessary to the support of my remaining negroes most of the valuable ones having been ... taken by the enemy." Declares that "If all the free negro fisherman are taken for govt service, then the people in and around Richmond must suffer greatly for want of food." Includes several dockets dated March 1864. One docket indicates that Bolling's services are necessary to the public good. Fragile.

Crenshaw, O. A., fl. 1845-1864
Seddon, James A. (James Alexander), 1815-1880
Bolling, James, fl. 1864

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