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.

West, Lewis H. (b. 1829) to Harriet Moore

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03836.85 Author/Creator: West, Lewis H. (b. 1829) Place Written: Aboard USS "Fernandina" at St. Catherine's, Georgia. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 26 January 1865 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 24.8 x 19.6 cm. Order a Copy

References receiving her letter of 5 January. Says his Christmas was subdued, but that he did manage to get a turkey for dinner. Says "By the way, was not Sherman's dispatch to the president presenting Savannah as a Christmas gift, a neat thing?" Says the only present he gave this year was "a calico dress to the old darky woman who washes for me and the result is that she wants to send a barrel of peanuts to my mother, in return." Assumes that Sherman is in South Carolina by now. Recommends that her father read "Army & Navy Journal," a weekly journal based in New York, as it is better than the daily newspapers. Has just heard of the second and successful attack at Fort Fisher. Says he heard a rumor they might be going to Port Royal soon.

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