Autograph letter signed by Lieutenant S.R. Thomson to Colonel John M. Otey (1839-1883), Assistant Adjutant General to P.G.T. Beauregard. Yorkville, South Carolina, 13 March 1865. 1 page, 7 3/4 x 10 inches. With endorsement on verso by Colonel Thomas Hamilton Brem (1816-1876) and clerically signed by General Beauregard. 

Thomson writes to Otey concerning potential charges against two captured cavalrymen: "I send to you under guard Lieut Blackburn Co. F Texas Cav, and Private Thos Oliver Co. C, 8th Texas Cav. I send the twenty-nine horses and the two negroes that these men had in charge. They have been here for five days and none of the property has been identified...I therefore send them for your order to be disposed of as is proper."

Twice endorsed on verso, 15 and 18 March 1865: "No charges preferred - Twenty Eight (28) horses turned over to the Q.M. Lieut Blackburn & Private Thos Oliver ordered to report to their command. I can see nothing wrong with their papers, except this Lieut is not the man the papers were issued to, originally" and "Respy refd to Maj. Genl. Wheeler thro Lt. Genl. Hampton, By Comd of G T Beauregard."

Archival service records confirm the presence of a "Tom J. Oliver" in Co. C of the 8th Texas Cavalry and indicate that the "Lieut. Blackburn" from Co. F is James Knox Polk Blackburn (1837-1923). Though seemingly faced with potential charges here, Blackburn was honored with saber by General John Hunt Morgan for his valuable service during a scout at Murfreesboro.

Though no further mention was made regarding the "two negroes" that were in their charge, coincidentally on the day this letter was written, legislation was passed by the Confederate Congress allowing enslaved African Americans to be mustered and quipped as combat soldiers on an experimental basis. Before, both enslaved and freed African Americans were subject to involuntary impressment but only in roles including cooks, laborers, wagon drivers, or nurses. However, desperate by this stage of the war, the Confederacy finally approved the use of Black troops.