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 Point Military Academy Composition of Armies

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05707.06 Author/Creator: West Point Military Academy Place Written: West Point, New York Type: Pamphlet Date: circa 1838 Pagination: 36 p. ; 33 x 22 cm. Order a Copy

Contains sections concerning strategy, marches, battle, position, convoys, castrametation, military reconnaissance, and "Indian warfare." Lithography by George Aspinwall at the U.S. Military Academy Press. Owned by Henry W. Halleck while a cadet at West Point. Bound together in a book with GLC05707.01-.07. Top half of pages 3 and 4 missing.

Halleck was graduated from West Point in 1839. He was active in the military and politics in California. After resigning from the Army in 1854, he headed the law firm of Halleck, Peachy & Billings in California. At the beginning of the Civil War, he was appointed major general. He served as Commander in Chief July 1862 to March 1864. Though he excelled in administrative duties, he was generally considered a failure in the field and was succeeded by his subordinate Ulysses S. Grant.

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