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.

Putnam, Israel (1718-1790) to Ezra Badlam

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01450.157 Author/Creator: Putnam, Israel (1718-1790) Place Written: Redding, Connecticut Type: Letter signed Date: 22 November 1778 Pagination: 2 p. : address : docket ; 22.1 x 18.3 cm. Order a Copy

Written by Major General Putnam as commanded Continental forces near Redding, Connecticut to Lieutenant Colonel Badlam as commander of the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment. Orders Badlam to take his regiment to New Hartford, Connecticut or wherever General Enoch Poor is, to relieve him from oversight of the Convention troops. Those troops were British prisoners of war from the Saratoga Campaign of 1777. Wants Badlam to take the Convention troops to Fish Kill Landing. Recommends taking only provisions and no baggage. Says Poor will provide further directions. Struck out on a blank page is amounts of provisions that Badlam apparently took with him. In December 1779, Putnam suffered a stroke in that ended his military career. He returned to Pomfret, Connecticut and ran a tavern until his death.

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