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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 #: GLC07687.128 Author/Creator: Van Nuys, John H. Place Written: Franklin, Indiana Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 14 March 1862 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope : 2 clippings ; 20.6 x 12.7 cm. Order a Copy

General news of home (health, family, weather, crops, etc.) Describes "a great battle in Arkansas" (Pea Ridge?), which involved the 18th Regiment. "It was a glorious victory. I suppose the infernal McCulla [Benjamin McCulloch] is dead at last." Describes Gen. Siegel's actions in the battle. Forty men from the 8th Ind. Regiment were killed, as was John A. Hendricks of the 22nd Indiana Regiment. Debates the implications of the rebel loss at Manassas against the strategy of the Union generals. One enclosed clipping, entitled "The Soldier's Trust," concerns the value of religious faith for soldiers, and the second is an incomplete account of events at Pea Ridge.

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