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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.

Nichols, Ambrose S. Diary belonging to a Civil War soldier

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09272 Author/Creator: Nichols, Ambrose S. Place Written: s.l. Type: Diary Date: 1863 Pagination: 400 p. ; 10 x 7 cm. Order a Copy

A war-weary soldier's diary provides contemporary eyewitness accounts of the entire Gettysburg Campaign, including the march from Maryland up into Pennsylvania, the battles at Brandy Station and Gettysburg, and the later push in pursuit of the Confederates. Nichols served in the 10th New York Cavalry. His entries are dated January 1-6 and April 12 - November 27, 1863, describing cavalry battles and engagements, the execution of deserters, and the horrors of battlefields during that critical war year. From Saturday, July 4, at Gettysburg: "They kept up the fite last nite till 10 o'clock and thair is som firing hear this morning but not a grate deal for I think that the Rebs had enough of it yesterday for thair loss must bee vary hevy for we mode them down like grass." Approx. 400 pp.

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