Nice pre-printed document filled out in period ink and dated on reverse “FEB. 25^th, 1864. Item meas. approx. 9.75 x 8.00 inches.

Document is headed “NO. 40 - SPECIAL REQUISITION.” In left corner in large ink letters is “CO. E.”

The body of the document lists pants, jackets, shirts, drawers, shoes, blankets and an axe issued to the Company. The bottom of the document is faintly signed in two places by James P. Houtz as Sergeant commanding the Company with a stronger signature of “R. W. WITHERS COL.”

The document is in very nice condition with only three vertical fold lines near center.

James Philip Houtz enlisted as 3^rd Corporal in Company E, 42^nd Virginia Infantry at Salem on June 4, 1861. He was promoted to 5^th Sergeant on October 31, 1861 and to Sergeant January 28, 1864. Not long after signing this document he would be captured at Spotsylvania on May 12, 1864. He was confined at Point Lookout, Maryland until August 3, 1864 when he was transferred to Elmira, New York. He was exchanged at Boulware’s Point on March 18, 1865. Houtz died in Salem, Virginia on November 10, 1910 and is buried there in East Hill Cemetery. His stone reads “UPSTANDING SOLDIER, LAWYER, GENTLEMAN.”

Robert Woodson Withers who signed this document as colonel was a hard fighter. He was born in Campbell County, Virginia and enlisted as a private in Company I, 42^nd Virginia Infantry on June 11, 1861 at Lynchburg. By September of 1861 he was commissioned 1^st lieutenant and by November of 1862 he was lieutenant colonel.

Withers was wounded at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863 during his regiments assault on Culp’s Hill. He returned to the regiment early the following October. At Shepherdstown on August 25, 1864 he was shot in the lung and captured. After being hospitalized at Sandy Hook and Baltimore, Maryland he was confined at Point Lookout, Maryland. He was exchanged on November 15, 1864 and entered a hospital in Lynchburg till the war’s end.

He died in Rustburg, Virginia in 1896 and is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery, Lynchburg.

The 42^nd Virginia was part of the 2^nd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia throughout its service.  [ad]

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