Bidspirit auction | 'SLAVES ABDUCTED OR HARBORED BY

'SLAVES ABDUCTED OR HARBORED BY THE ENEMY' - Fascinating contemporary fair copy of official orders issued from the C.S.A. State Department, 1p. legal folio, Richmond, Oct. 25, 1861, headed: 'Notice to Judicial Officers Taking Testimony in Cases of Slaves abducted or harbored by the Enemy...' The government regulation reads, in small part: '...[the owner] shall if living...make affidavit of ownership & loss by such abduction, harboring, or seizure, waste, or destruction...in no case will the affidavit...be taken as evidence of loss unless it shall appear...that no other and better evidence can be obtained...The judicial officer shall reduce to writing the oral evidence of alleged ownership & loss & injury...together with the affidavits…[which] shall be transmitted to the Secretary of State...' A clean horizontal split partially repaired on verso, else very good.