Visible 6 5/8 x 9 1/2 in. printed broadside; framed to 12 5/8 x 14 5/8 in. (not examined out of frame). Signed in type by Gen. J.H. Morgan and .R.A. Alston, A.A. Genr'l.

John Hunt Morgan, a native Kentuckian, represented to many secessionists hope that Kentucky could be claimed for the Confederacy. He had raised the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry and became its colonel on 4 April 1862. After action at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, Morgan began his first raid into Kentucky. With nearly 900 men, he swept through Kentucky taking 1,200 prisoners, and capturing hundreds of horses, and destroying Union supplies.

Here, Morgan addresses the people of "Estelle and adjoining counties" outlining the treatment the citizens can expect to receive. He concludes: "If any of our men are fired on while passing through the country, I will lay waste the entire surrounding neighborhood." Parrish & Willingham 1018.

RARE: Parrish & Willingham note only 1 copy held at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; online records note only 1 other copy listed at auction (Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Confederate States Featuring the D. Scott Gallagher Collection of Kentucky Postal History During the Civil War and Post-War Southern Expresses, Sale 801 Lot 153)