Our Collection

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.

Gillmore, Quincy Adams, 1825-1888 to George Washington Cullum

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06075 Author/Creator: Gillmore, Quincy Adams, 1825-1888 Place Written: Morris Island, South Carolina Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 22 July 1863 Pagination: 2 p. : Height: 20.1 cm, Width: 25.3 cm Order a Copy

General Gillmore, Commander of the Department of the South (Union), writes to Cullum, chief of staff for General Henry Wagner Halleck. Describes recent operations against Fort Wagner, stating "I have taken the first step here and have had some pretty hard knocks in trying to take the second. My losses will foot up 1000.- They appeared greater the day after the last fight, but many men struggled back to their camps on Folly Island, & have since joined. Fort Wagner is a hard nut to crack. I shall push matters- but at the same time shall erect heavy batteries against sumter at 3500 yards." Relates that General Truman Seymour sustained a foot wound in the 18 July attack, and has traveled north to attend to business related to the Department of the South. States "I can't breach sumter from where my advanced line now is, even should Wagner try her best to prevent it. If Seymour comes to Washington & wants any help please render it." Thanks Cullum for his work on the book "Systems of military bridges in use by the United States Army, those adopted by the great European powers, and such as are employed in British India," which was published in 1863.

Gillmore, Quincy Adams, 1825-1888
Cullum, George Washington, 1809-1892
Seymour, Truman, 1824-1891

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources