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.

Mortimer, Caleb C.E. (1835-1862) to his wife

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01898.05 Author/Creator: Mortimer, Caleb C.E. (1835-1862) Place Written: Hall's Hill, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 27 October 1861 Pagination: 4 p. ; 20 x 12.5 cm. Order a Copy

Mentions being reviewed by General George McClellan and calls him "a fine looking man." The whole division was under the command of General Fitz-John Porter. States McClellan would have had the enemy trapped at Munson's Hill but for a traitor in the war department that supplied the rebels with information.

Caleb Mortimer enlisted on 5 September 1861 as a 1st Lieutenant and was commissioned into the Massachusetts 3rd Light Artillery. He was wounded at Gaines' Mill, Virginia on 27 June 1862 and died the next day.

Mortimer, Caleb C.E., 1835-1862
McClellan, George B., 1826-1885
Porter, Fitz-John, 1822-1901

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