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.

Rowan, Stephen Clegg (1808-1890) to Lewis H. West

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03836.66 Author/Creator: Rowan, Stephen Clegg (1808-1890) Place Written: Aboard USS "New Ironsides" off Morris Island, South Carolina Type: Document signed Date: 28 April 1864 Pagination: 1 p. : docket ; 34 x 20.8 cm. Order a Copy

Written in secretarial hand and signed by Commodore Rowan as commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Orders Acting Master West from the USS "New Ironsides" to the USS "Fernandina." Tells him to report to Commander William Reynolds, the Commander of the Naval Depot at Port Royal, South Carolina, to arrange passage to St. Catherine's, Florida where the "Fernandina" is stationed. Docket signed by three officers. Top signature is illegible, but the other two are by Rowan and Reynolds.

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