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 #: GLC01898.08 Author/Creator: Mortimer, Caleb C.E. (1835-1862) Place Written: Hall's Hill, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 13 December 1861 Pagination: 4 p. ; 20.2 x 12.5 cm. Order a Copy

Mentions being in General Fitz-John Porter's division. Read a piece in the Boston Herald about Porter's Battery being in a skirmish and Sargeant Barnes shooting a rebel but says it was all a lie. Describes meeting Abraham Lincoln at Captain Griffin's wedding in Washington. "... it was a big time I had the honor of being introduced to old Abe and several members of the cabinet..."

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
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

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