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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.

Wood, Matthew (fl. 1862-1865) to Sarah Wood

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02176.05 Author/Creator: Wood, Matthew (fl. 1862-1865) Place Written: Camp Dennison, Ohio Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 28 March 1863 Pagination: 4 p. ; 20.1 x. 25.8 cm. Order a Copy

Written at Camp Dennison to his wife. Reports he is finally paid $62.50. Expects to move soon, though "grape vine dispaches," or camp rumors, are unreliable as to where. Mentions some soldiers' receiving packages from home. Laments vice in camp, commenting "I have heard profanity in its worst form I have seen allmost every form of vice and its affects." Finally, reacts to news of an incident in Noble County, Ohio (the Hoskinville Rebellion) in which the "rattle snakes," or "butternuts," as Wood calls them, i.e. Southern sympathizers demonstrate opposition to war.

Matthew Wood served in the Ohio Ninth Cavalry with Burnside's army in Tennessee, and William T. Sherman's army at the burning of Atlanta and capture of Savannah.

Wood, Matthew
Wood, Sarah

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