7 1/2 x 12 in., manuscript in ink. Petersburg, Va., February 26, 1865. Autograph document signed by Lt. P.A. Walker, commanding Co. B, 16th Mississippi Infantry.

An official certification of pay and clothing due to the estate of Pvt. Willis M. Walker, killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863. The document gives a full physical description of the soldier — nineteen years old, five feet eleven, fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes, a farmer by trade from Simpson County, Mississippi — enlisted by Capt. Wilkes at Corinth on May 28, 1861. It itemizes back pay, clothing allowance, and transportation commutation owed to his estate, totaling $122.25.

The 16th Mississippi Infantry saw hard service throughout the war, fighting in Jackson's Valley Campaign, the Seven Days, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg before Chancellorsville claimed Pvt. Walker. The regiment went on to Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, and the Petersburg trenches before surrendering at Appomattox. This document, executed near Petersburg less than six weeks before that surrender, is a poignant closing of accounts for a soldier lost nearly two years earlier.  [SS][ph:L]

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