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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 Samuel Osgood

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03646 Author/Creator: Knox, Henry (1750-1806) Place Written: New Windsor, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 9 July 1782 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 22.1 x 18.6 cm. Order a Copy

Writes to Osgood, then a member of the Continental Congress and the treasury board, to request that Congress pay Baron von Steuben. States that "it has been owing to [von Steuben] that a substantial discipline has been established in the American Army," that he "is particularly attached to the cause of America," but "can no longer live without pay." (See GLC02437.01480 for the retained copy of this letter)

[Excerpt:]
This will be presented to you by Major General the Baron Steuben. I am certain you are well acquainted with the reputation of his abilities, and that it has been owing to him that a substantial discipline has been established in the American Army so as to render it equal to any point of service.

The Baron is particularly attached to the cause of America, and has expended much money, in supporting himself in it. But he has exhausted such means as he could readily associate, and can no longer live without pay, to obtain which he now goes to Philadelphia. His importance to us, is too great, to be deprived of his services on account of the small sum of money necessary to his purpose ....

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806
Osgood, Samuel, 1748-1813
Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin, Baron von, 1730-1794

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