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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.

Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight, 1809-1862 to Henry Wager Halleck

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02456.19 Author/Creator: Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight, 1809-1862 Place Written: Washington, District of Columbia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 31 August 1862 Pagination: Order a Copy

Written from the Willard Hotel. Mitchel writes to Halleck, commander in chief of the United States Army: "In obedience to the orders of the Secretary of War, I report to you for duty." Two bust engravings of Mitchel included as collateral.

Mitchel, O. M. (Ormsby MacKnight), 1809-1862
Halleck, Henry Wager, 1815-1872

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