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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.

Dahlgren, John Adolphus Bernard, 1809-1870 to Gideon Welles

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09330 Author/Creator: Dahlgren, John Adolphus Bernard, 1809-1870 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph document signed Date: 12 December 1864 Pagination: 1 p. : Order a Copy

Telegram as commander of the South-Atlantic Squadron, to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, providing the first news from Sherman's army that the march to the sea had been successful: "I have just received a communication from Gen. Sherman's Army. It is a few miles from Savannah and in fine spirits. A dispatch is forwarded with this…. I shall bring all my available force into connection with the Army." Dahlgren learned the news by courier from Gen. O.O. Howard and immediately forwarded the crucial information to the government in Washington.

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