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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.

Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870 to John MacKay

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06752.01 Author/Creator: Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870 Place Written: S.B. Matta, Missouri River Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1839/11/07 Pagination: 4 p. : address ; Height: 24.8 cm, Width: 22.5 cm Order a Copy

A fine personal letter, written aboard the steamboat "Malta" on the Missouri River, commenting on various topics to his friend, Jack MacKay, whom he met at West Point. Lee comments on the Seminole War that "It is high time that they abandoned it...." Lee tells of his family's summer vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains and his work in Missouri "I have been studying mud and water," working at St. Louis harbor and pulling snags from the Missouri River.

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