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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.

Shaw, Samuel (1754-1794) [Order to issue army rations to three British deserters]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.02316 Author/Creator: Shaw, Samuel (1754-1794) Place Written: West Point, New York Type: Autograph note signed Date: 23 July 1783 Pagination: 1 p. : 8 x 17.2 cm. Order a Copy

Order issued by General Knox's aide-de-camp Major Shaw for West Point Commissary James Forsyth to issue seven days worth of rations for three British deserters "to carry them to Philadelphia." It appears that Shaw was reusing paper, as a few lines of poetry are written on the verso of this document.

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