ALS signed “Jno: S. Mosby,” two pages both sides, 7.75 x 9.75, January 31, 1902. Letter to William J. McGee of the General Land Office in Washington. Mosby responds to his superior's accusation that a letter Mosby had sent was not on government business and should have been stamped. Mosby counters that the correspondence was of an official nature. Regarding his headquarters in Akron, Colorado, Mosby graphically describes the wintry conditions: "A cowboy was not willing to venture 20 miles on the prairie in such weather—nothing but a coyote could stand it. It probably would have been a repetition in miniature of Napoleon's expedition to Moscow. I do not understand that the G.L.O. expects its agents to perform miracles. Thought the letter is marked "Personal" at the head, Mosby notes at the conclusion, "There is nothing confidential in this letter." In fine condition, with splitting along the central horizontal fold. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Mosby's hand, and bearing five affixed postage stamps. In 1901, Mosby became a special agent for the General Land Office, on the trail of illegal ranch land fencers and timber trespassers in Colorado, Nebraska, and Alabama. An interesting letter from late in the intrepid Confederate ranger's post-war career.
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