Comes to Light.
After the war, I was several times solicited, from both Confederate and Federal sources, to furnish copies, which was impossible, as I felt sure the only one retained had been destroyed, as above stated, and that no other existed.
A few years ago
Major Benham died in
California, and to my extreme surprise and delight, a copy—the one supplied him at
Tunnel Hill—was found among his papers.
This was forwarded to
Lieutenant L. H. Mangum,
Cleburne's former law
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partner and afterwards aide-de-camp, who sent it to me to identify, which I readily did.
Mangum afterwards placed it in the hands of
General Marcus J. Wright, agent of the War Department, for collection of Confederate records, and it was this paper I was called upon to authenticate, the reason for which being that as it is a copy and not an original, some such official certification was desirable.