Partly printed document completed in manuscript and signed by A.B. Fitch. Head-Quarters Cavalry Corps, M.D.M., West Point, Georgia, 13 May 1865. 1 page, docketing to verso. 

A late war Oath of Allegiance for Private William M. Lewis who served in Co. F of the 8th Texas Cavalry, swearing that he "will not bear arms against the United States of America or give any information, or do any military duty whatsoever, until regularly exchanged as a prisoner of war."

William M. Lewis enlisted with the 8th Texas Cavalry, better known as Terry's Texas Rangers after its organizer, Benjamin Franklin Terry, the wealthy owner of a sugar plantation and slaveholder. Although originally intended to serve in Virginia, they were assigned under General Albert Sydney Johnston for service in the West. Colonel Terry was killed early in a skirmish on 17 December 1861.

They were reassigned to the Army of Tennessee, led by General Braxton Bragg, where they were used as shock troops thanks to their high level of mounted shooting. The regiment would ultimately fight in nearly 275 engagements, distinguishing themselves at the Battles of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, and Chickamauga. 

During the Atlanta Campaign, the regiment continually harassed Sherman's army, though the Confederacy lacked the overall strength to halt his progress. Their last engagement was at the Battle of Bentonville, where they made their final charge.

The document is signed by Captain and Assistant Provost Marshall Asa B. Fitch of Company H of the 4th Iowa Cavalry, which also fought at the Battle of Bentonville. Although 248 survivors of the 8th Texas Cavalry declined to surrender with the rest of the Army of Tennessee, it appears that Lewis was captured. The rest of his regiment fled south to reunite with Confederates who had yet to bend the knee. They raided a Confederate commissary on 1 May 1865 before ultimately returning to Texas, never surrendering.

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