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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.

Unknown [Broadside recruiting African Americans for military service]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04198 Author/Creator: Unknown Place Written: s.l. Type: Broadside Date: 1863 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 29.5 x 24.3 cm. Order a Copy

Color recruitment broadside depicting a Union soldier holding a United States flag with an attached banner declaring "Freedom to the Slave." In the background on one side, African American troops march holding a United States flag bearing the words "U. S. Regt. Colored Troops." On the other side, African Americans walk into a public school. The Union man stands on a Confederate flag, while a slave tears the flag in half. A broken set of shackles lay in the foreground. On verso, a printed statement declares "All SLAVES were made FREEMEN BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 1st, 1863. Come, then, able-bodied COLORED MEN, to the nearest United States Camp, and fight for the STARS AND STRIPES." Docketed by Harriet E. Shafer and May S. Scott, both of Michigan. Contains several torn creases.

Scott, May, fl. 1863
Shafer, Harriet, fl. 1863
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

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