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.

Blackman, Francis G. (fl. 1861-1865) to Mary Blackman

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02159.01 Author/Creator: Blackman, Francis G. (fl. 1861-1865) Place Written: Hilton Head, South Carolina Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 11 November [1861] Pagination: 4 p. : envelope ; 17 x 10.5 cm. Order a Copy

Writes to his mother. "...I never knew what it was to go hungy till I come here...I was on the sick list when we got here but I shouldered my gun and marched with the Regiment...we have had one meal of bull soup, we slept in the sand 3 nights all I had to eat in 30 hours was 1/2 pint of rice." "...10 guns boats but we did not get but one of the boats...the Rebel's genarl was kild and then the rest run and flung their things away...we did at Bull Run..." No year on letter.

Blackman, Francis G., fl. 1861-1865

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