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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.

Fitch, Thomas (1700-1774) [Military instruction for Major General William Johnson during the French and Indian War]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01450.250.01 Author/Creator: Fitch, Thomas (1700-1774) Place Written: Norwalk, Connecticut Type: Manuscript document signed Date: 17 June 1755 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 32 x 19.5 cm. Order a Copy

Gives Johnson instructions for administering "the Defence and Protection of his Majesty's Territories against the French at Crown Point...and for removing Encroachments already made there..."

Fitch was the Royal Governor of Connecticut.
General Johnson helped formulate British policy toward native peoples at the Albany Congress in 1754 and was made superintendent of Iroquois affairs in 1755.
Johnson's 1755 expedition against Crown Point was unsuccessful, but he did defeat the French under Baron Dieskau at Lake George that year and built Fort William Henry.

Fitch, Thomas, 1700-1774
Johnson, William, 1715-1774

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