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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.

Washington, George (1732-1799) to John Hazelwood

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09378 Author/Creator: Washington, George (1732-1799) Place Written: s.l. Type: Letter signed Date: 23 September 1777 Pagination: 1 p. Order a Copy

As commander-in-chief, sending confidential orders to Commodore John Hazelwood, introducing Captain Samuel Treat, who is delivering "a message of so interesting and important a nature, that I thought it unadviseable to commit it to writing.…" Per the orders conveyed by Capt. Treat, Hazelwood's garrison at Fort Mifflin on the Delaware River delayed the British fleet until Washington's troops could safely reach winter quarters at Valley Forge.

Signer of the U.S. Constitution.

Washington, George, 1732-1799

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