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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.

Letcher, John (1813-1884) to the Council

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00642 Author/Creator: Letcher, John (1813-1884) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 15 May 1861 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 29 x 23 cm. Order a Copy

States that Colonel Fauntleroy outranked General Robert E. Lee in the United States Army and feels Fauntleroy is entitled to be commissioned nothing lower than a brigadier general in the Provisional Army. With endorsement of P.F. Howard, secretary of the Council approving the nomination. Says "…I regret that I cannot concur in the recommendation made by the Council in the case of Colonel Fauntleroy. If I am correctly informed, Col Fauntleroy ranked General Lee in The United States Army, & if this is so, it seems to me, that he is justly entitled to the commission of a Brigadier General in the Provisional Army…."

Letcher served as Governor of Virginia 1860-1864.

Letcher, John, 1813-1884

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