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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.

Barnes, Richard (fl. 1782) to William Smallwood

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06508.03 Author/Creator: Barnes, Richard (fl. 1782) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 30 February 1782 Pagination: 1 p. : address : docket ; 24 x 19 cm. Order a Copy

Discusses desertion and black recruits. Is unable to submit a list for men drafted for three years service because so many have left for Annapolis "without my knowledge." Due to these desertions the three year draft has been suspended. Names the only three men drafted "that did not march and were not discharged." These were "William Wakely, Negroe Jess, Joseph Procter (Mulatter)." Docket on verso reads "From Colo. Barnes July 30, 1782."

Richard Barnes, fl. 1782
Smallwood, William, 1732-1792

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