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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.

Porter, Fitz-John (1822-1901) to Colonel Julius Walker Adams

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00214.02.13 Author/Creator: Porter, Fitz-John (1822-1901) Place Written: New York, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 26 October [1878] Pagination: 2 p. ; 20.5 x 14.3 cm. Order a Copy

Year inferred from content. Mentions Generals Irvin McDowell and David Hunter, in reference to an investigation called to reevaluate Porter's actions at the Battle of Second Manassas. Remarks, "There is evidently a war to be raised by those fellows- & Sherman is to give aid- has done so." Suggests that Pope and Sheridan are working against his case in conjunction with McDowell, who had previously criticized Porter's actions at Second Manassas. Suggests that following the battle, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton used several generals, including Henry Wager Halleck, against Porter, the same way he used them against McClellan. Requests that Adams testify in his favor, relating evidence involving President Abraham Lincoln and Governor Newell (William A. Newell, Governor of New Jersey 1857-1860 and of the Washington Territory 1880-1884).

Adams, Julius Walker, fl. 1861-1862
Halleck, Henry Wager, 1815-1872
Hunter, David, 1802-1886
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
McClellan, George B., 1826-1885
McDowell, Irvin, 1818-1885
Newell, William Augustus, 1817-1901
Pope, John, 1822-1892
Porter, Fitz-John, 1822-1901
Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin McMasters), 1814-1869

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