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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.

Knox, Henry (1750-1806) to Congress

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.02903 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry (1750-1806) Place Written: West Point, New York Type: Manuscript letter signed Date: 3 January 1784 Pagination: 5 p. : docket ; 33.5 x 21.2 cm. Order a Copy

Written by Samuel Shaw, Knox's aide-de-camp. Knox gives a report on the state of West Point soon before his intended departure for Boston. Notes the dissolution of several companies/corps. Gives status of hospital, cannon, ammunition and supplies, and ordnance. Writes, "I hope it may not be thought presumptuous or impertinent to indulge the rapture which fills my mind upon so interesting a contrast, so honorable and so highly flattering to my country- especially when so great a part of the cannon are trophies, wrested by the hand of virtue from the arm outstretched to oppress it." Discusses circumstances of the Canadian refugees around West Point.

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Shaw, Samuel, 1754-1794

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