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.

Humphreys, David (1752-1818) to Henry Knox

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.01623 Author/Creator: Humphreys, David (1752-1818) Place Written: Nelson's Ferry Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 22 September 1782 Pagination: 2 p. : address : docket ; 20.8 x 16.7 cm. Order a Copy

Written by Colonel Humphreys, aide-de-camp to General Washington, to Major General Knox. Says the meetings of the commissioners will take place on next Wednesday. Says he has not seen dispatches from Congress, but that Colonel Tilghman informed him that they were of such a nature that both Knox and General Heath need to immediately master their contents. Says Colonel Smith has accepted the office of commissary and has gone to Elizabethtown. Smith will try to meet with Knox on Wednesday in Tappan. Written from Nelson's Ferry. Two Revolutionary War battles took place at Nelson's Ferry, South Carolina in 1780 and 1781, but it does not appear that Humphreys went any further south than Virginia in 1782-1783. No state could be ascertained for place written. "On public service" written on address leaf with no signature.

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