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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.

Sherman, William Tecumseh (1820-1891) to David D. Porter

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02984 Author/Creator: Sherman, William Tecumseh (1820-1891) Place Written: St. Louis, Missouri Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 19 October 1868 Pagination: 3 p. : docket ; 24.5 x 20 cm Order a Copy

Reminds Porter of a letter he wrote to Sherman last spring in which Porter described everything about a meeting in 1865 where Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Sherman, and Porter discussed the course to be taken when the Confederate forces were defeated. Porter had written up this description at the request of G.P.A. Healy, who painted a picture of the meeting. Asks Porter if he kept a copy of this letter since he sent his copy to Healy and if he could furnish him with one. If not, he requests that Porter recount his memory of the meeting again particularly those parts which were "likely to influence me in offering to Joe (Joseph) Johnston the favorable terms I did." He requests this because Dr. John W. Draper of New York is writing a history of the Civil War and asked for information. He adds that Grant awaits the presidential election results in Galena. "Grant is still up at Galena, as quiet as a Mouse, and as certain of Election as possible." Written as Lieutenant General commanding the Military Division of the Missouri.

Porter was an admiral and commander of the Naval Academy. Sherman was accused of offering excessively favorable terms to Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and his surrender treaty was rejected by the Union administration. On 26 April 1865, General Johnston surrendered his army upon the same terms that General Lee had received at Appomattox on 9 April 1865.

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
Porter, David Dixon, 1813-1891
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885
Johnston, Joseph E. (Joseph Eggleston), 1807-1891
Healy, George Peter Alexander, 1813-1894

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