1 Lincoln, Abraham | The President thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated."

2 Washington, George | An extraordinary letter marking the conjunction of three of the most consequential figures of the American Revolution: George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin

9 Lincoln, Abraham | The President's letter to John Key—sent just four days after he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation