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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.

Johnston, William Preston (1831-1899) [Endorsement on an envelope addressed to Martha Ready Morgan]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04513 Author/Creator: Johnston, William Preston (1831-1899) Place Written: s.l. Type: Endorsement signed Date: 11 December 1863 Pagination: 1 envelope ; 5.5 x 12.9 cm. Order a Copy

Date taken from a pencil note on the envelope. One side of the envelope indicates the correspondence was sent under flag of truce terms to Mrs. Morgan, the wife of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan, care of Johnston in Richmond, Virginia. Johnston endorses on verso, writing "With congratulations on Genl Morgan's escape." Contains a five cent Confederate postage stamp. Johnston possibly signed in Richmond.

Johnston, the son of General Albert Sidney Johnston, served on the staff of Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. After the war, he served as a lawyer and educator. General Morgan was captured during a raid he led in the summer of 1863. In November 1863, Morgan and several of his men escaped from the Ohio State Penitentiary.

Johnston, William Preston, 1831-1899
Morgan, Martha Ready, 1840-1887
Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864

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