The Commonwealth of Virginia
To W. H. Taylor. Greeting:
Know you, That from special trust and confidence reposed in your fidelity, courage and good conduct, our GOVERNOR, in pursuance of the authority vested in him by an Ordinance of the Convention of the State of Virginia, doth commission you an
Assistant Adjutant General, with the rank of Captain
in the Provisional Army of the State of Virginia, to rank as such from the 31st day of May 1861
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name as
Governor, and caused the Seal of the Commonwealth to
be affixed, this 31st day of May 1861
John Letcher
Source: The Archives of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation, Papers of the Lee Family, Box 8, M2009.257
Transcribed by Caitlin Connelly, 2016 July 11