Document meas. approx. 8.00 x 9.75 inches and is totally filled out in strong legible ink and reads:

RICHMOND, VA.

JULY 5^TH 1861

CAPT. BLACKFORD

COMD. BARBOUR GREYS

SIR,

I AM INSTRUCTED BY GEN. LEE TO ASK IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED ORDERS TO JOIN YOUR REGT. + IF SO, WHY THE ORDER HAS NOT BEEN OBYED. YOU WILL PLEASE INFORM ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

RESPECTFULLY,

YOUR OBT SEVT

J. H. WINDER

BRIG. GEN.

+ INSPECTOR GEN. OF CAMPS

The reverse of the document is also inscribed with the following:

CAPT. BLACKFORD YESTERDAY HAD INSTRUCTIONS TO HAVE HIS COMPANY PAIDTO-DAY. BUT AS THERE IS NO PAYMENTS IN RICHMOND IT CANNOT BE DONE, AND HE THEREFORE WILL COME IMMEDIATELY TO MANASSAS JUNCTION. BY ORDER OF GENERAL LEE.

JULY 6^TH/61 GEO. DEAS. A.A.G.

The document is in good condition with light wear and dirt to each edge.

Eugene Blackford was a Virginian by birth, born in Lynchburg, and was the youngest of five brothers. He moved to Alabama before the war, beginning his Southern military service on May 15, 1861, as a captain in Company K of the 5th Alabama Infantry, just 10 days after the regiment was organized at Montgomery. He was made major of the regiment on July 17, 1862 and carried out his duties with quiet competence. The few mentions of him in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies are positive and praiseworthy. In a memoir of Stonewall Jackson, James Power Smith speaks approvingly of the 'well-trained skirmishers of Rodes' division, under Major Eugene Blackford,' and he places Blackford alongside Jackson when Stonewall gave his fateful order to Rodes at Chancellorsville – “You may go forward.”

After Gettysburg Blackford receded into the curious anonymity that had cloaked him prior to the battle. Following the Battle of Cedar Creek in October 1864, he was relieved from his command for poor conduct during the fight, but was reinstated by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who was heavily lobbied by Blackford's peers, subordinates and superiors. Although the 5th Alabama surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Blackford's name does not appear on the parole roster for either the regiment or the brigade. After the war he settled in Maryland, working as a farmer and a teacher, before dying on February 4, 1908.

John H. Winder was born in Maryland on February 21, 1800. He graduated from West Point in 1820 and served there as an instructor of tactics. He resigned from the Army in 1823 but was reinstated in 1827. He served in the Mexican War and received two brevet promotions for gallant and meritorious service. He resigned his commission as Major of the 3^rd US Artillery on April 27, 1861 to accept a commission as a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. On June 21, 1861 he was made Provost Marshal of Richmond. He was responsible for the overall administration of Confederate prison camps and of tracking down deserters. In 1864 he was assigned as Commissary General for all Confederate prison camps east of the Mississippi. He died of a heart attack at Florence, South Carolina on February 7, 1865 and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. The people of the North widely held General Winder responsible for the horrendous conditions in Southern prisons.

George Deas was born in Pennsylvania in 1816. He commissioned into the 5th United States Infantry on August 1, 1833 with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He received the rank of Brevet Major for his actions at Contreras and Churubusco during the war with Mexico. He resigned his commission from the United States Army on February 25, 1861 to cast his lot to the Confederacy. Within its army, he held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel serving as Inspector General. He also had assignments on the staffs of several Confederate Generals including the two highest ranking, Samuel Cooper and Robert E. Lee. In October 1862, he became the acting Assistant Secretary of War for the Confederacy. Of further note is that Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet was his brother-in-law. He died May 23, 1870 and is buried in Glenwood Cemetery, Flint, Michigan

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