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.

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de (1757-1834) to Joseph Vose

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09337 Author/Creator: Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de (1757-1834) Place Written: s.l. Type: Letter signed Date: 26 March 1781 Pagination: 2 p. Order a Copy

To Col. Joseph Vose, preparing to retreat after news of victory of British fleet: "make every preparation to march the troops by land to the Head of Elk…. I request you will use every Endeavour to persuade the people that we are going to join Gnl [Nathanael] Greene's Army - I shall set out to morrow for Annapolis where I expect to find the troops either gone (if the General has so ordered) or in a perfect Readiness to March."

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