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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.

Houghton, M., fl. 1865 to a family member

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09139 Author/Creator: Houghton, M., fl. 1865 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 8 January 1865 Pagination: 7 p. : envelope Order a Copy

"[Nashville is] under the control of our guns from the forts and batteries...I saw 3 or 4 dead Rebs still lying on the ground unburied and some that had been buried with some parts still visible above the ground...the point B.F. is where the greatest slaughter was made in our ranks. It was a charge that was made on a Rebel battery on quite a high steep hill...the charge was mostly done by colored troops...everything here is under martial law..." With autograph map on last page showing railroad lines, roads, the scene of charge by Colored troops, Confederate lines, batteries, trenches, picket lines, etc.

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