[Partially Printed Form, Completed in Manuscript, Attesting to the Loyalty of a Texas Cavalryman and Giving Him Permission to Return Home]

West Point, Ga: May 13, 1865. About very good.. Partially-printed document, completed in manuscript, docketed on verso. Old folds, minor loss at one crossfold, some archival reinforcements along fold lines, minor creasing and edge wear. A late Oath of Allegiance sworn by Private William M. Lewis, Company F of the 8th Confederate Texas Cavalry. William M. Lewis enlisted with the 8th Texas Cavalry, better known as Terry's Texas Rangers after its organizer, Benjamin Franklin Terry. Although originally intended to serve in Virginia, the Rangers were assigned under General Albert Sydney Johnston for service in the West. Colonel Terry was killed early in a skirmish on December 17, 1861. Terry's Texas Rangers were reassigned to the Army of Tennessee, led by General Braxton Bragg, where they were used as shock troops given their high skill level at mounted shooting. The regiment would ultimately fight in nearly 275 engagements, distinguishing themselves at the battles of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, and Chickamauga.  During the Atlanta Campaign, the regiment continually harassed Sherman's army on its March to the Sea. Although 248 survivors of the 8th Texas Cavalry declined to surrender with the rest of the Army of Tennessee at the end of the war, it appears that Lewis was captured. The rest of his regiment fled south to reunite with Confederates who had yet to bend the knee. In the present document, Lewis does "solemnly swear that I will not bear arms against the United States of America or give any information, or do any military duty whatsoever, until regularly exchanged as a prisoner of war." The oath is followed by information on Lewis's physical description, describing him as a five-feet-tall, with "dark" hair, "grey" eyes, and a "fair" complexion. The document is signed by Lewis after the oath and at the bottom by Captain and Assistant Provost Marshall Asa B. Fitch of Company H of the 4th Iowa Cavalry, which also fought at the Battle of Bentonville. The printed text above Fitch's signature states that he is allowing Lewis "to return to his home, not to be molested by the military authorities of the United States as long as he observes this parole and obeys the laws which were in force previous to January 1, 1861, where he resided." Loyalty oaths for Confederate Texas soldiers are rare, but rarer still from prisoners of war held by Union forces at the end of the conflict, and especially rare from members of Terry's Texas Rangers. This document is all three rolled into one.