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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.

Smith, Asa to mother

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03696.13 Author/Creator: Smith, Asa Place Written: Suffolk, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 8 June 1862 Pagination: 4 p. ; 20.0 x 12.3 cm. Order a Copy

to mother [Ann Smith] The regiment has received orders, and will probably soon be moving to Richmond. He was unable to break the bill from home. The Union boys "played some rough games on the ignorant Secesh, in the matter of money," using wrappers and papers marked with numbers as money. He hasn't heard from Wallace. He seems ready for battle, remarking that he doesn't want to fight, but if he must, the regiment will "give them a taste of our steel which don't seem to suit them." He seems very restless in Suffolk: "One thing is certain, I don't care how quick I get out of Suffolk to some place where the white folks know, as much as the niggers." Numbered in pencil "82."

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