[Crandall 1278, Parrish & Willingham 2262]. Federal cover stamp: “Second Division/ Rebel Archives/ War Department”. Dated “Richmond, Va., February 27, 1863.” 8pp., wraps, measuring 8.5 x 5.5”. Near fine condition, Addressed to the CS House of Representatives, this presidential message contains a list of 131 prisoners in custody at Salisbury prison, along with a report from Secretary of War Seddon requesting authorization to appoint commissioners to examine civilian prisoners taken into custody by the army to determine the necessity of extended incarceration. President Davis forwards the report, inviting “attention to the recommendation in regard to a class of officers to be charged with the special duty of inquiring into the cases of prisoners arrested by military authority.”

The prisoner list includes 12 cited as being connected with the notorious “Fry co. bridge burners” from East Tennessee. These were a group of East Tennessee unionists who concocted the plan, approved by President Lincoln, to burn nine rebel railroad bridges in a 270 mile arc spanning from Greene County, Tennessee to northern Alabama. Scheduled for the night of November 8, 1861, the bridge burnings were to be done in conjunction with an advance of Union forces from Kentucky into Tennessee. Commanded by Gen. W.T. Sherman, this force was to the rallying nexus for an uprising of East Tennessee Unionists. Unfortunately for the latter, only five of the nine bridges were burned and Gen. Sherman’s forces failed to arrive, leaving these Unionists badly out on a limb. Many were captured and hung, and the bridge fiasco would badly tarnish the Union cause in that area. Prisoner list invites further research. A fine Confederate imprint. Highly collectible.

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