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.

Knox, Henry (1750-1806) to John Lamb

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.01280 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry (1750-1806) Place Written: s.l. Type: Manuscript letter Date: 2 November 1781 Pagination: 2 p. + docket Order a Copy

Puts Colonel Lamb in charge of ordnance being transported to Head of Elk, Maryland and instructs him on how to proceed. Includes instructions on where to store the ordnance, what to obtain from the quartermaster at Head of Elk, and what to demand of the Board of War & Ordnance. Explains that the company of artificers under Captain Thomas Patten are to be left in Philadelphia and set to work immediately. As much artillery as possible should be removed to the Hudson River and placed under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln. The ordnance being transported had been used for the siege of Yorktown. Written at a Park of Artillery. In the hand of Samuel Shaw and signed for Knox by Shaw.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Lamb, John, 1735-1800
Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

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