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.

Smith, William Stephens, 1755-1816 to Joseph Vose

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09338.03 Author/Creator: Smith, William Stephens, 1755-1816 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: March 15, 1781 Pagination: 2 p. : Order a Copy

Lafayette's Adjutant re the planned spring campaign. Unless French ships arrived and established naval supremacy in the Chesapeake it would be "impossible to move the troops to this place" but Vose should remain "in the most perfect readiness to move at an hour's warning." With Lafayette Free Frank.

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834
Vose, Joseph, 1738-1816
Smith, William Stephens, 1755-1816

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