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.

Shifflet, Hillary (1823-1863) to Fanny Shifflet

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02174.04 Author/Creator: Shifflet, Hillary (1823-1863) Place Written: Camp Boiling Fork, Franklin County, Tennessee Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 19 August 1862 Pagination: 4 p. Order a Copy

Shifflet encourages his daughter to "be a good girl and mind your mother" and to "go to school ever chance you git." He asks her to look after the other children, Patsy, Mariah, and Jonney and promises to send money so that Fanny may have new clothes. He heard "not five minets ago that thar is was one hundred and eighty thousand [Confederates] a coming rite on us so we will hav to fall back to nashville in short order." He expects "some hot times soon" but says that he "shant fight much moore my self."

Shifflet, Hillary
Shifflet, Fanny

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