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A RARE FLAG-OF-TRUCE COVER VIA OLD POINT COMFORT TO CANADA.
Flag-of-truce mail to any destination beyond the U.S. borders is extremely rare. S. Jones Lyman, to whose care this cover is addressed, published an amateur florist's guide in 1863. (Image)
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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A REMARKABLE AND BEAUTIFUL ACROSS-THE-LINES USAGE.
Northbound flag-of-truce covers were normally franked with U.S. postage and, if not additionally franked with Confederate postage, were enclosed in an outer Confederate-franked or hand-carried cover addressed to the point of exchange. The exchange clerk at Old Point Comfort evidently allowed this cover to pass with a Confederate stamp.
With 1993 P.S.E. certificate (Image)
EXTREMELY FINE. A REMARKEBLY FRESH AND CHOICE CIVILIAN FLAG-OF-TRUCE USAGE THROUGH RICHMOND AND OLD POINT COMFORT.
Ex Richey, Shenfield, Gallagher and Sevenoaks. Illustrated in Special Routes (p. 92) (Image)
A SPECTACULAR PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM ANDERSONVILLE, CENSORED BY THE NOTORIOUS PRISON COMMANDANT HENRY WIRZ. THIS COVER WAS MADE FROM WALLPAPER AND CARRIED ON THE RICHMOND-OLD POINT COMFORT FLAG-OF-TRUCE ROUTE. ONE OF THE FINEST ANDERSONVILLE COVERS KNOWN.
The Andersonville prison, officially known as Camp Sumter, was the largest Confederate military prison during the Civil War and the most dreaded by Union soldiers. On March 27, 1864, Captain Henry Wirz assumed command of the stockade. By the end of the war, 12,913 of the approximately 45,000 Union prisoners held there had died, mostly from starvation and disease. After the war, Wirz was charged with conspiracy and murder by Federal authorities. His trial was held in the Capitol building in Washington and presided over by Union General Lew Wallace. A number of former prisoners testified on conditions at Andersonville, many accusing Wirz of specific acts of cruelty (some of these accounts were later called into question by historians as exaggerated or false). The court also heard from Confederate officers and considered official correspondence from captured Confederate records. Wirz presented evidence that he pleaded to Confederate authorities to obtain more food and maintained that he tried to improve the conditions for the prisoners. Wirz was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. On November 10, 1865, he was hanged in Washington at the site of the current Supreme Court building -- the only Confederate official to be tried, convicted and executed for war crimes resulting from the Civil War. There are approximately 32 covers known from the prison today.
Illustrated in Harrison (p. 22) (Image)
VERY FINE. A GORGEOUS MIXED-FRANKING PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM ANDERSONVILLE PRISON VIA RICHMOND AND OLD POINT COMFORT.
Julian Weaton Merrill enlisted as a private in the 24th New York Battery on August 30, 1862. According to the Civil War Plymouth Pilgrims Descendents Society website, he was captured on April 20, 1864, at Plymouth N.C. and sent to Andersonville before being exchanged on November 20, 1864. While at Andersonville, a mock election was held in the stockade on Nov. 4, 1864, to decide between the two candidates for President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln and former Commander of the Army of the Potomac George B. McClellan. Merrill opened the meeting by singing "Columbia the Gem of the Ocean" and served as a ballot clerk for the election. Lincoln won the election by a vote of 945-795. Merrill survived Andersonville and in 1870 wrote a history of the 24th N.Y. Battery. He died in 1912 at the age of 71.
With 1984 P.F. certificate (Image)
VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A BEAUTIFUL AND RARE FLAG-OF-TRUCE COVER FROM A PRISONER AT ANDERSONVILLE SENT VIA RICHMOND AND OLD POINT COMFORT.
Harrison lists two examined markings from Andersonville in addition to "Exd. H.W." of Henry Wirz. The "J.C.S." marking is listed as used in February 1865 by an unknown censor. This cover shows that the officer who used those initials was censoring letters at least eleven months prior to February 1865.
Illustrated in Special Routes (p. 238) (Image)
EXTREMELY FINE. A SPECTACULAR FLAG-OF-TRUCE WALLPAPER COVER FROM ANDERSONVILLE PRISON WITH THE COMMANDANT HENRY WIRZ CENSOR MARK.
This cover combines all of the elements of an outstanding flag-of-truce usage. It was sent from a Union prisoner in the most infamous C.S.A. prison of the war and examined by the Camp Commandant who became the only official to be tried, convicted and executed for war crimes. It has clear markings, is an adversity usage and is as fresh as the day it was mailed.
Ex Birkinbine (Image)