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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.

Dederer, Nicholas A. (fl. 1862-1863) to Peter B. Rathbone

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04703.11 Author/Creator: Dederer, Nicholas A. (fl. 1862-1863) Place Written: New Orleans, Louisiana Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 14 July 1863 Pagination: 6 p. Order a Copy

Writing from the Marine Hospital, Dederer, with the New York Volunteer Regiment notes the success of Grant at Vicksburg. His opinion of pardoning rebel soldiers: "Gen'l Butler is the damned'st Scoundrel in the whole Federal Army, but it needs such a man to deal with these pretended senior men; men who just as soon as our backs are turned render all the possible aid and comfort to these small armies or bands of Guerrillas. I would not allow so many of them to take the oath, as but few of them regard it as all binding, and it only furnishes them with a cloak by which they hide their disloyalty."

Dederer, N. A., fl. 1862-1863
Rathbone, Peter B., fl. 1862-1863

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