CSA 11c, 10¢ greenish blue PAIR (ample to huge margins) tied by light SHREVEPORT / LA. double-circle datestamp by TRANS-MISSISSIPPI COURIER on very interesting 3-page folded letter (PAGE 1, PAGE 2, PAGE 3) from James Thom datelined "Richmond Va., Oct. 13, 1863," to James H. Moody, Fairfield, Freestone County, Texas. Interesting contents with directions for getting mail across the river by Capt. F. J. Lynch and so much more, “He wishes me to put in a large amt of money and let him go by way of Nassau to Matamoros and buy cotton and ship to Europe. I prefer entrusting all my interest in Texas to you.” And “Judge Re(a)gan is the Post Master Genl from Texas and says Capt Lynch is a reliable man & can give me all the information I wish. Capt Lynch says he swam the Mississippi on a mule to bring depatches.” Bit of splitting and nicks along folds as well as small piece missing from third page, ex Clippert. $2,000.

Francis J. Lynch (1815–1897) was a planter and legislator, born in Cork County, Ireland, on February 10, 1815. He began the study of law in Dublin before he immigrated to the United States in 1837. He practiced law in Charleston, S.C., then moved to Brandon, Miss. After representing his district for two terms in the Mississippi legislature, he moved to Texas in 1852 and established a plantation in DeWitt County. He represented the county in the Eighth Legislature. He served as a captain in the Confederate Quartermaster Corps during the Civil War, and was a member of the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1875. He tendered his resignation at Shreveport January 10, 1865. There is a long trail of documents in the military records under his name, much of it as Assistant Quartermaster General at Fort Brown, Texas, plus other Texas posts such as Gonzales, San Antonio, etc.