News "Document of the Month" - February 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean February 23, 1863: Vallandigham Denounces the Draft What is the proper way for Americans to express political opposition to an ongoing war? How can the party out of power maintain its own identity without appearing disloyal? Can party...
News Former slave, Doctor Cuffee Saunders, 1781 Sometimes a simple document can open the door to a great story. Cuffee Saunders was a Black soldier during the Revolutionary War. The paperwork here is for “Cuffee Wells,” Wells being the name of Cuffee’s former slaveowner. When...
News "Document of the Month" - April 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Playing ball for the troops: Yankees/Dodgers/Giants exhibition benefit game, 1943 There’s no denying the important role that baseball has played in America’s past. It has always been considered more than a game, whether played by professional athletes or kids at the sandlot. This was never more obvious than during...
News Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean March 31, 1863: Halleck Instructs Grant On March 31, 1863, Henry W. Halleck wrote an "unofficial letter" to Ulysses S. Grant "as a personal friend and as a matter of friendly advice." [1] As is often the case in communications between...
News Robert E. Lee’s condolence letter to his son Rooney, 1864 In this beautifully written letter, Confederate general Robert E. Lee attempts to console his son William Fitzhugh "Rooney" Lee on the loss of his wife. The letter demonstrates the emotion that Lee felt for his family and offers a...
News "Document of the Month" - May 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean April 30, 1863: Hooker Reaches Chancellorsville The bloody Union defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in December 1862 and the aborted "Mud March" along the Rappahannock River the following month demoralized the Army of the Potomac and...
News Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson MAY 22, 1863: GRANT LAYS SIEGE TO VICKSBURG It had been a long and difficult winter for Ulysses S. Grant. For months his army had struggled in the bayous and swamps around Vicksburg, Mississippi, looking for some way to attack the...
News "Document of the Month" - June 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Robert E. Lee writes about friends and "the daughters of Eve" at Fort Monroe, 1834 This gossipy and personal letter captures the close friendship between Robert E. Lee and John "Jack" MacKay. It offers an example of letter writing in the days before the instant communication provided by telephones and the Internet....
News Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean JUNE 12, 1863: LINCOLN DEFENDS THE ARREST OF VALLANDIGHAM Clement L. Vallandigham, a Democratic congressman from Ohio, distinguished himself as one of Abraham Lincoln’s most vociferous critics. Although claiming a great love for the...
News "Document of the Month" - July 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson JULY 1–3, 1863: THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG As the Army of the Potomac moved northward in late June 1863 to counter the Army of Northern Virginia’s invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania, it passed by the battlefields of Manassas. Samuel...
News "Document of the Month" - August 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Respected General turns traitor, 1780 Benedict Arnold, whose name is now synonymous with the word "traitor," was once a well-respected American officer responsible for key victories at Fort Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Fort Stanwix, and Saratoga. Arnold’s contemporaries were...
News Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson SEPTEMBER 19–20: THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA: MISSED OPPORTUNITY In June 1863 the Union Army of the Cumberland under William S. Rosecrans commenced a skillful campaign of maneuver. In just over twelve weeks it drove the Confederate Army...
News "Document of the Month" - September 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News "Document of the Month" - October 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Fredericksburg, Then and Now by Elena Colón-Marrero, Christopher Newport University Class of 2014 One would think that growing up in a town rich in colonial and Civil War history would inspire an appreciation for that history. My experience living in...
News Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean OCTOBER 10 AND NOVEMBER 5, 1863: DAVIS TRIES TO RALLY CONFEDERATE MORALE The summer of 1863 had been a poor one for the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee’s army was not just repulsed from its invasion of Pennsylvania but bloodily beaten at...
News "Document of the Month" - November 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson NOVEMBER 23–25, 1863: THE BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA On the afternoon of November 25, 1863, Ulysses S. Grant stood on Orchard Knob east of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and pondered what to do next. It was just over a month since he had arrived...
News "Document of the Month" - December 2013 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson JANUARY 2, 1864: GENERAL CLEBURNE PROPOSES THAT THE CONFEDERACY FREE AND ENLIST ITS SLAVES As 1864 began, both northerners and southerners believed that the coming year would prove decisive in the ongoing conflict. Although the...
News "Document of the Month" - January 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News "Document of the Month" - February 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Scholar’s Blog - Brooks D. Simpson MARCH 9, 1864—ULYSSES S. GRANT IS COMMISSIONED AS LIEUTENANT-GENERAL On March 8, 1864, Ulysses S. Grant and his eldest son, Fred, arrived at Washington, DC. It was the general’s first visit to Washington since 1852, when he had been a...
News "Document of the Month" - March 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News Fighting discrimination during World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s "four basic rights," 1944 In this newly received donation to the Gilder Lehrman Collection, Eleanor Roosevelt responds to a correspondent who was apparently worried about the desegregation of restrooms and forced social interaction between the races in the...
News The Pierce Butler Papers from the US Constitutional Convention This archive of twenty-six documents was compiled by Pierce Butler when he served as one of South Carolina’s delegates to the US Constitutional Convention in 1787. It includes the printed first and second drafts of the Constitution;...
News Civil War soldiers: Thomas Burpee and his sons The Gilder Lehrman Collection has more than 10,000 letters written by soldiers during the American Civil War, and when you read dozens or even hundreds of letters by the same person, it is very much like reality television. You become...
News The cost of living in New York City in 1787 The Henry Knox Papers in the Gilder Lehrman Collection contain more than 10,000 documents dating from 1750 to 1820. The bulk of the archive chronicles the American Revolution and early founding era. The depth and complexity of the...
News Photographs of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor A good primary source will give you a sense of immediacy and awe that makes history come alive and leaves you with a deeper understanding of an event. It is one of the key elements we look for when adding materials to the Gilder...
News Ulysses S. Grant at West Point, 1839 The Gilder Lehrman Collection includes a letter and a painting by Ulysses S. Grant when he was a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. These unique items reveal Grant as the equivalent of a modern-day...
News "Document of the Month" - April 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News "Document of the Month" - May 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News "Document of the Month" - June 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News "Document of the Month" - July 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News "Document of the Month" - August 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News "Document of the Month" - September 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News "Document of the Month" - October 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News "Document of the Month" - November 2014 If you don’t see the full story below, click here (PDF) or click here (Google Docs) to read it—free!
News A letter from a slave to his mother, 1859 Sometimes documents leave us with more questions than answers. That is definitely true for this letter of October 8, 1859, from an unidentified man to his mother—both of whom appear to be slaves! The author refers twice to having a...
News Portraits of Jane and Franklin Pierce These miniature portraits of Jane and Franklin Pierce, attributed to artist Moses B. Russell, were painted shortly after the couple was married in 1834. Measuring only 4 ¼ inches tall by 3 ½ inches wide, the paintings have gilt-metal...
News A Civil War soldier’s sketchbook Between battles, marches, and military exercises, Civil War soldiers spent their free time in camp playing music, writing and reading letters, and, for those with the skill, sketching scenes from the day. This unknown soldier’s...
News The diary of a sailor on the eve of Pearl Harbor In the fall of 1941 Thomas Barwiss Hagstoz Askin Jr. was on board USS Memphis counting down the days until his enlistment in the United States Navy ended. He recorded his experience in a diary he entitled "Memorys and Incidents of My...
News The manumission of Frederick Douglass After his escape from slavery in 1838, Frederick Douglass became a well-known orator and abolitionist. In 1845, he wrote an autobiography that increased his influence, but also increased the chances that he would be captured and...
News Woodrow Wilson Suffers Stroke, 1919 When World War I ended, President Woodrow Wilson attended the Paris Peace Conference, where the Allied nations met to write the Treaty of Versailles . In September 1919, President Woodrow Wilson embarked on a speaking tour of US...