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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.

Van Nuys, John H. to Samuel Watson Van Nuys

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC07687.122 Author/Creator: Van Nuys, John H. Place Written: Franklin, Indiana Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 3 February 1862 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope ; 20.7 x 12.8 cm. Order a Copy

Surprise visit from Uncle Charles Campbell, who had been seeing a sick soldier at Louisville. Dick Donnell has returned home, and reports "a vast amount of sickness among out troops." Donnell had met with a "reliable Gentleman, who assured him that the forward movement will not take place for two months to come." Vannuys laments "Can it be? Are our Sons, Brothers, Fathers to lie and rot with diseas[e] in our camps for two months? Can it be? Can it be?"

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