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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.

Damuth, Dolphus, fl. 1839-1913 to Maria Damuth

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03523.14.81 Author/Creator: Damuth, Dolphus, fl. 1839-1913 Place Written: Kennersville, Louisiana Type: Autograph letter signed Date: January 22, 1865 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope Height: 12.5 cm, Width: 20.5 cm Order a Copy

Writes to his sister. Responds to family concerns that he might reenlist and promises this is not the case. He will come home and "take care of you as you intended I would when you gave me a deed of the farm." Warns his brother not to reenlist, since he has served a hundred days in Memphis and "seen a dead rebel and now he ought to stay at home and trot his young one on his knee." Writes about friends of the family. Ends the letter with the warning, "Dont let evryone [sic] see this."

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