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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.

Roddey, Philip Dale (1826-1897) to Braxton Bragg

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05015 Author/Creator: Roddey, Philip Dale (1826-1897) Place Written: Gadsden, Alabama Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 17 February 1864 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 26.2 x 20 cm. Order a Copy

Confederate General Roddey, commanding a cavalry brigade in the Army of Tennessee, reports that most of his brigade is at camp, and the remainder are in the Tennessee Valley. Informs Bragg, conducting Confederate military affairs in Richmond, Virginia, of the size and strength of his cavalry regiments. Urges Bragg to assume active command. Reports on the extensive distribution of several circulars urging Alabama citizens to support the Union. One circular is distributed by a Huntsville, Alabama citizen names D. C. Humphries (possibly David C. Humphreys, a known Union supporter from Northern Alabama). Both circulars mentioned are signed by General Logan (possibly John Alexander Logan). Declares "All these circumstances combine to divide the ignorant unsuspecting people in the mountains who think they have no pleaniary interest in the present contest but are taught by bad men to believe that our cause is hopeless, & that if they enlist with the enemy that large benefits will accrue to their families at the close of the war." Docket states "Humphries, for whose arrest Pope Walker abused me in open Court, issues the address."

Leroy Pope Walker was Confederate Secretary of War in 1861.

Roddey, Philip Dale, 1826-1897
Bragg, Braxton, 1817-1876
Logan, John Alexander, 1826-1886
Humphreys, David C., fl. 1864

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