1p, approx. 5 x 8 in. (creasing, light soil). Signed ("F.W. Taggard") by Assistant Adjutant General Frank W. Taggard. Taggard requests of Commanding Officer, Co. C, 77th U.S. Colored Infantry ("Formerly 85th"), Fort St. Philip, Louisiana, that outstanding final statements related to deceased soldier Private James Jones be forwarded without delay.

HDS indicates that Private James Jones enlisted as a private on 3/11/1864 at New Orleans, and mustered into Co. C, USCT 85th Infantry. His date and method of discharge are not indicated. The 85th Infantry was organized in April 1864 from the 13th Corps d'Afrique Infantry and was attached to the Department of the Gulf. The regiment consolidated with the 77th USCT approximately a month later, remaining in the Department of the Gulf and serving in the Defences of New Orleans at Fort St. Philip. Though the exact identity of Private Jones is uncertain, he is likely one of thousands of formerly enslaved men who escaped to join the Union cause, enlisting in Louisiana's Corps d'Afrique before consolidating into USCT.