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.

Unknown War Office 1790 Salaries October, November, December

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.04814 Author/Creator: Unknown Place Written: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Type: Manuscript document Date: 6 January 1791 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 31.2 x 20.1 cm. Order a Copy

List of salaries requested and received for employees of the War Department. Includes John Stagg Junior, R. J. VandenBrock, Constant Freeman, Benjamin Bankson, Cesar Lloyd Cummings (who signs with his mark).. The men signed for receipt on page two.

Caesar Lloyd Cummings (d. 1792), one of six civilian employees in the War Department, was a free black man. He worked as the department messenger. (At least one source indicates that Cummings had served there since the Board of War's creation in 1777.)

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

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