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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.

Ervin, John (fl. 1781) to John Saunders

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03332.02 Author/Creator: Ervin, John (fl. 1781) Place Written: Pee Dee, South Carolina Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 3 March 1781 Pagination: 1 p. : address ; 17.2 x 19.5 cm. Order a Copy

Written by Ervin as a lieutenant colonel in Francis Marion's brigade of partisans to Captain Saunders, a royalist in command of the garrison at Georgetown, South Carolina. Ervin sent this note by Captain James Postell and Lieutenant William Futhey to ask for a prisoner exchange. Postell was subsequently taken prisoner despite the flag of truce because Saunders claimed he was in violation of a parole given him after the American defeat at Charleston in May 1780.

Ervin is probably the brother of Hugh Ervin, the second-in-command of Marion's brigade.

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