Here is what looks like an ordinary

Here is what looks like an ordinary spool of thread. It dates from 1861, but if you look closely, it's not just any old spool of thread. It contains a very tightly rolled up secret message. So I'm going to gently use my tweezers to kind of nudge it out and see if it might move. Alright, we have our message. I'm going to see if I can unroll it. The paper feels a bit soft but not too brittle. So the next step here would be working with the curator to make sure that this can be imaged as is. The goal is to replace the message back inside the spool because that really helps retain the authenticity of the item. It says, "Sir, move instantly with the Artillery companies upon Bragos Santiago." So these are the instructions, how to transport pieces of artillery out of the state. And there is a note that somebody supplied that said that this is how the Union officers exchanged secret messages.