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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.

Allen, Littleberry W. (fl. 1864) A Brief sketch of the war with the U.S. and of Battles in which I have been engaged or which I visited before the Dead Were Buried.

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03811 Author/Creator: Allen, Littleberry W. (fl. 1864) Place Written: Johnson's Island, Ohio Type: Autograph manuscript signed Date: 23 January 1864 Pagination: 259 p. ; 18.6 x 15.7 cm. Order a Copy

Signed by Allen as a Confederate prisoner of war and dated Johnsons Island, Ohio January 23rd, 1864. Allen signs as a captain in the Independent Cavalry of Virginia. He writes in the preface, "It is very hastily and therefore very imperfectly written as it was done amid a Bedlam of confusion: But being profoundly impressed with the mighty Struggle and being confidently hopeful of its grand success, I the more cheerfully write for my children that in after Years they may enter upon and enjoy the labors & sufferings of their Fathers; as I used to do when I was a child, to sit and listen to the heroes of the First Revolution."

Allen, Littleberry W., fl. 1864

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