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.

Van Buren, Daniel T. (1826-1890) to John M. Cuyler

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04511 Author/Creator: Van Buren, Daniel T. (1826-1890) Place Written: Fort Monroe, Virginia Type: Autograph note signed Date: 7 July 1862 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 20.5 x 12.5 cm. Order a Copy

Suggesting that contrabands, former slaves who had escaped to the Union army, be used to collect dead bodies. "It is suggested that Contrabands be Employed to bring down & put in the waggons the dead bodies which, Emit these foul discharges over the clothes of these soldiers, and also that they accompany the bodies to the graves for the purpose of lifting them from the waggons at that place." The original complaint regarding the "foul discharges" is noted on the docket.

Daniel Tompkins Van Buren was a brevet brigadier general of volunteers in the Union Army.
John M. Cuyler was a medical director in the Union Army.

Van Buren, Daniel Thompkins, 1826-1890
Cuyler, John Meck, 1810-1884

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