The letter is part of a death claim made by next of kin. The soldier's company commander was required to complete a statement from the descriptive roll which verified that the deceased was regularly enrolled in Confederate service. Captain Fears also consulted the last payroll to determine how much money was due the soldier since his last payment. This is one of the documents that should be on file in a soldier's military service file when a death claim has been made, others being from the 2nd Auditor's Department in Richmond VA as well as the original claim processed by county probate court. County courts verified the relationship of claimants to deceased soldiers as next of kin -- widow, father, mother or guardian.