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.

Pickens, Francis Wilkinson (1805-1869) to Christopher G. Memminger

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09207 Author/Creator: Pickens, Francis Wilkinson (1805-1869) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 20-29 December 1861 Pagination: 3 p. Order a Copy

Criticizes General Ripley's failure to report troops sent from South Carolina and requesting arms. "[Ripley's] proper place is in Fort Sumter & Moultrie & to command the batteries - and he is suited to nothing else...when I had Beauregard there never was the slightest misunderstanding...I hope the Secy. of War may allow the Confederate arms to be given out to our troops...I can make an exchange... [for] an equal number in Mississippi now in the hands of our Regts."

From the wartime papers of South Carolina Governors Francis W. Pickens and Milledge L. Bonham.

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