5c Green, Stone 1-2 (1). Four margins, tied by "Richmond Va. Nov. 26 1861" circular datestamp on unlisted War Department, Engineer Bureau semi-official imprint cover to the presiding justice at Cumberland C.H. Va., enclosure on the same War Department letterhead states in part "Required, For work on the defenses of Richmond City, Fifty (50) able bodied free Negroes to be assembled at Cumberland C.H. on Thursday the 4th of December where they will be received and mustered into the service of the State...", signed by Alfred L. Rives, Acting Chief of the Engineer Bureau, also includes a separate written authorization to receive "free Negroes" and a long list of names of those received

VERY FINE. AN OUTSTANDING COMBINATION OF THE 5-CENT LITHOGRAPH ISSUE ON AN UNLISTED SEMI-OFFICIAL IMPRINT COVER WITH CONTENTS DESCRIBING THE ENLISTMENT (COERCION) OF FREE AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN FOR WORK ON THE DEFENSES OF RICHMOND.

Both enslaved and free African Americans were routinely pressed into service on behalf of the Confederacy, performing manual labor for the Army and various branches of government. Almost none of it was voluntary. Slaves were often hired out by their owners, but even free black men were coerced to perform manual labor. This is an outstanding and scarce contemporary written example of that system

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