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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.

Fales, Charles L., fl. 1862 to Adelaide Fales

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09316 Author/Creator: Fales, Charles L., fl. 1862 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 21 September 1862 Pagination: 4 p. Order a Copy

Captured after a Union bayonet charge at Second Bull Run: "...when we charged bayonets and rushed with a yell on to the railroad. The rebels poured the shot with us fast but we drove them away and held the railroad....They shot some men after they surrendered. I expected to get killed one fellow rushed up to me with his bayonet and asked me if I wanted to die, I told him I did not care. He with several others marched me off."

Fales, Charles L., fl. 1862
Fales, Adelaide, fl. 1862

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