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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.

Beale, R. L. T. (Richard Lee Tuberville) (1819-1893) to John Letcher

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02461.02 Author/Creator: Beale, R. L. T. (Richard Lee Tuberville) (1819-1893) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 14 May 1861 Pagination: 2 p. ; 24.7 x 19.6 cm. Order a Copy

Requests that Letcher, Governor of Virginia, authorize the ordnance department to purchase guns for use in Captain T.S. Garnett's company. Mentions Colonel Ruggles (possibly Daniel Ruggles). Also signed on verso is a note signed by secretary P.F. Howard, noting that council members John Allen, Francis H. Smith, M. F. Maury, Robert L. Montague, and T. S. Haymond advise that the purchase of guns be allowed. Signed 15 May 1861 by Letcher, who notes "advice disapproved."

Beale served as a general in the Civil War.

Letcher, John, 1813-1884
Beale, Richard Lee Tuberville, 1819-1893
Howard, P.F., fl. 1861
Ruggles, Daniel, 1810-1897

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