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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.

Tillotson, George W., 1830-1918 To his wife

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04558.083 Author/Creator: Tillotson, George W., 1830-1918 Place Written: Suffolk, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 17 April 1863 Pagination: 4 p. : Height: 20 cm, Width: 12.5 cm Order a Copy

Skirmishing, Federal expedition to dislodge snipers, being reinforced, expecting an attack. "We have taken some negro rebel prisoners. One was caught in a tree fireing at our scurmishers, there was a white reb also with him but they killed the white one and captured the black and he he [sic] declared if he was back there he would fight us just as hard again and also that there was fifteen thousand more out there like him, who was just as stout as he, and they would fight just as well so you can see how much the niggers want to fight for their own freedom."

Tillotson, George W., 1830-1918

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