A dual autograph document/autograph letter signed by J.H. Moody, complete with integral address leaf. November 1, 1864. Fairfield, Texas. Inscribed on blue-lined blue paper and hand-ruled in pencil. Expected wear such as scattered stains. Two areas of loss including one found along the bottom edge. Bearing remnants of the original red wax seal. Else very good to near fine. 8" x 4."

Moody, a representative from a Texas tax district (probably Freestone), wrote this letter to Ben E. Roper, Confederate Tax Collector for Harris County, Texas. (Houston was the county seat of Harris County, located in eastern Texas.)

In part: "Sir - Above I hand you list of property Encd. to me situated in Harris Co - please have proper values attached + return…"

Taxpayers R.F. Morgan and James Robinson are listed as having "5 Negroes in Service" and "4 Negroes in Service" respectively.

It is possible that these nine "Negroes in Service" were impressed into military service. Virginia was the first Confederate state to permit the limited impressment of slaves in October 1862. In February 1863, Texas Governor Francis Lubbock (1815-1905) recommended that the possibility of “requir[ing] the labor of adult male slaves on public works of defense" be discussed by the Texas legislature. This was followed, in March 1863, by the CSA's authorization that enslaved persons could be impressed in accordance to individual state laws. General Orders No. 138, issued in October 1863, further outlined the terms of Confederate slave impressment (limited to 60 days, excluding small slave owners with fewer than 4 eligible slaves, less than 5% of the slave population per county could be impressed, etc.) Slave owners would be compensated for the temporary loss of their slaves.

Enslaved persons in the Confederacy did not perform any soldiering duties, but rather undertook important auxiliary tasks, such as building roads, railroads, and fortifications, or perhaps even destroying them in advance of enemy troops. They dug trenches, burial pits, and latrine; mined for gunpowder-making ingredients and worked at ordnance factories. Impressed slaves were also employed at ironworks, brickyards, and saw mills to provide materiel for the Confederate war machine.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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