"Hamptonville NC/June 24th 1863 Pd 10" manuscript cancel on darling small commercial mourning cover addressed to Statesville, N.C.; a scarce manuscript town and a total Charmer!

CHERAW/S.C./JUL/2 (1861) PAID 5, New Dietz type IIA handstamped paid, on letter to Sumter with original enclosure on bank letterhead from cashier with bank content, flaps faults, Fine

ADAMS RUN/S.C./ AUG/12 PAID (no rate) to "Mrs. J.B. Grimball, Spartanburgh, So. Carolina", slightly reduced at top with top back flap missing, Very Fine, Ex-Zimmerman

John Berkley Grimball (1800-1892), The Grimball family were prominent planters and owners of Pinebury and Grove plantations near Charleston, SC. Their well known correspondence is in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is well known to postal historians for the blockade covers.

CHERAW/S.C./JUL/5 (1861) handstamped paid on cover to "W.F.B.Haynesworth, Esq, Sumter, SC" with docketing "About J. D. Foxworth's protected draft", fresh lemon cover, no top back flap otherwise Very Fine, Ex-Emerson and Cole

"Hardwicksville (VA) Sept 14th (1861) paid 5 cts" all in manuscript on cover to "Lieut W. A. Perkins, Yorktown, Cumberland Troop"; which unit was also known as Co. G, 3rd VA Cav., Cumberland Light Dragoons; scarce manuscript town

"Heathsville Va/Jany. 6th '62 Pd 5 cts" all in manuscript on petite commercial ladies cover addressed to "Mrs. R.M.T. Hunter. R.M.T. Hunter was Confederate Secretary of State 1861-1862; in the Confederate Senate from Virginia 1862-1865 was President pro tempore on various occasions; one of the peace commissioners that met with President Abraham Lincoln in Hampton Roads in February 1865; and briefly imprisoned at the end of the Civil War.

"Tye River Ware House (Va) Augst 7 (1861) Paid 5 cts." all in manuscript to "Mrs. A. L. Brent, Bremo Bluff, Fluvanna (Va); docketed "one of my dear sisters last letters to me", fresh and Fine, Scarce manuscript town cancel.

Manuscript "Paid 10" at upper right of cover with soldier's docketing up the left side that is almost, but not quite possible to make out (someone else may be more lucky), addressed to "Thos. M. Carr, Jr., Weldon NC, Company B Second Bat., Junior Reserves Care of Capt Ovelman". A soldier's cover that was paid instead of "due".

SMITHFIELD/Va. PAID V red handstamped paid, New Dietz type IA on previously prepared manuscript Paid 5 cents envelope to Reidsville NC Care of Capt Matlock. Pencil docketing on verso by AEW indicates that it appeared in the A. Earl Weatherly sale October 20, 1972 and is signed "To William Boyst from Earl Weatherly 10-31-7", Unusual and scarce item in pristine condition

CHARLOTTE/NC PAID 10, New Dietz type IB on clean cover to Petersburg, Va., Ex-Weatherly

INDUSTRY/TEX PAID (no rate), ms date in cds open to interpretation (July 01?/July 61?) to Fayetteville, NC on somewhat soiled and edge worn cover, but rare and UNLISTED in New Dietz

NEWBERRY C.H./S.C./JUL/28 PAID X (woodcut), type IC, on a bit war weary cover to "Lyles Ford U. & S.R.R., S.C."(Norfolk & Southern Railroad) docketed "Tax Rect" with original brief business letter signed "John R. Leavell (?), A.D.C." so of military origin

FLAT ROCK/N.C./APR/12 (1861) PAID 5, type I, nice neat strikes on Middleton correspondence cover, bit of foxing at left with light surface erosion o/w VF

Brig. General Edwin Gray Lee: After finishing Law school at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), he practiced in Shepherdstown, (now West) Virginia. At the War's start, he was Second Lieutenant in Company B, 2nd Virginia Infantry, which soon became part of the Stonewall Brigade. Lee served as an aide to Col. Thomas J. Jackson during June and July 1861. Following the First Manassas, he was promoted to Major of the 33rd Virginia Infantry. He was elected Lieutenant Colonel on April 22, 1862. He served with his regiment during Jackson's Valley Campaign of 1862, the Seven Days battles, at Second Manassas and Cedar Mountain. In the Antietam Campaign, he was in poor health at Sharpsburg, and was captured there, but was paroled on Sept. 26, 1862. He rejoined his Regiment at Fredericksburg on Dec. 13, 1862, but his health forced him to resign shortly after the battle. In 1863, his health improved, he returned to active duty, and was appointed Colonel on Nov. 12, 1863 on the staff of Gen. Robert Ransom Jr. in the Richmond defenses. He subsequently recruited troops and fought in defense of the Shenandoah Valley.

He was promoted to Brigadier General on September 23, 1864 and then served with Gen. Rosser in the cavalry in the Valley. In November 1864, he took sick leave, and in December he and his wife Susan, the daughter of Gen. William N. Pendleton, ran the blockade to Canada on a secret service mission. They remained in Montreal until the spring of 1866 before returning to Virginia. After the War, General Lee continued to suffer from disease of the lungs and died at Yellow Sulphur Springs, vainly seeking a cure, at only 34 years of age.

"Bremo Bluff July 11 (1861) 5 Paid", all in manuscript, to "Dr. Cary C. Cocke,Care of John P. Ballard Esqr., Exchange Hotel, Richmond, Virginia". Noted "Charged to C.C.C." Ex-Green, Bogg and Sheppard

Dr. Cary Charles Cocke, a physician, was born in 1814 and died in 1888. His father was Confederate General John Hartwell Cocke - Virginia planter, reformer, general, and statesman as well as a director of the James River and Kanawha Company and a member of the board of visitors of the University of Virginia.

ARRINGTON/VA. handstamped PAID 5 on neat cover, slightly reduced at right, addressed "Care of Capt. T. C. Jordan" to Jamestown Island, Va.

Dr. Cary Charles Cocke, a physician, was born in 1814 and died in 1888. His father was Confederate General John Hartwell Cocke - Virginia planter, reformer, general, and statesman as well as a director of the James River and Kanawha Company and a member of the board of visitors of the University of Virginia.

AMERICUS/Ga. handstamped PAID 10 (value in manuscript), bold strikes on pristine homemade cover to Benjamin M. Peeples in Madison, Georgia. Peeples was a well known architect.

PETERSBURG/VA./FEB/14 blue cds with UNLISTED matching handstamped PAID 5 on homemade cover to "Mrs. E. A. Preot, Care of A. Preot, Esq., Farmville, Va." This was Mrs. Eduard Arnaud Preot. Preot was born in Lille, France, emigrated to the U.S. and served on faculty of several female colleges. He was more illustrious in death than in life. In 1873 a keg of Preot's beer exploded in his face and killed him. Complete and interesting biography with likeness accompanies.

Robert Barnwell Rhett, Jr. was the editor of the Charleston Mercury (owned by his father) and a delegate to the Democratic Convention in 1868. Rhett, Sr. was SC Attorney General in 1832, as well as a U.S senator and congressman. He was a leading fire-eater (pro-slavery extremist) considered "The Father of Secession" and greatly opposed the views of John C. Calhoun. Rhett, Sr. was considered for the office of president of the Confederacy.

RALEIGH/N.C. blue double circle cancel with matching PAID on neat envelope addressed to "Chairman of Superintendents of Common Schools for Warren Co, Warrenton, NC", Very Fine

RALEIGH/N.C./JUN double circle cancel with handstamped PAID - no rate but 2¢ understood as a drop rate Raleigh to Raleigh on immaculate homemade cover with small original business note to William Grimes enclosed, Extremely Fine, Ex-Powell. William Grimes was from a prominent Raleigh family and was a landlord in the sharecropping system, cattle breeder, hotel owner and wealthy philanthropist. His brother was Major General Bryan Grimes, Jr., 1860-1865.

Columbia, S.C. handstamped PAID 5, type ID, fancy "5", all in blue to "Mrs. Mary J(ane DeRosset) Curtis, Hillsborough, N. Car.", wife of the preeminent mycologist, Rev. Moses Ashley Curtis. Used on immaculate cover

HILLSBORO/N.C./NOV 6/1861 dc with matching blue handstamped PAID 5, type I altered pre-war Paid 3 handstamp on cover to "Miss Kate F. Curtis, St. Mary's School, Raleigh, N.Car.", bit reduced at right with some small edge tears, with original letter from her father. Kate was the daughter of Rev. Moses Ashley Curtis, an Episcopal priest who was a preeminent mycologist renowned among botanists. His letter is headed "Hillsborough Nov 5th (Guy Faux' Day)" and is an amusing and affectionate 4 page offering with news of family and friends.

Palmyra, Va. AUG/2 brown handstamped PAID (no rate) on turned cover to "James A. Sutherland, Ward I 2nd Division, Chimborazo Hospital, Richmond, Virginia". Sutherland enlisted as a private at Centreville, VA in Co. D of the 19th VA Infantry. He was wounded at Seven Pines, VA on 6-1-62, hospitalized 11-21-63 at Chimborazo with tuberculosis and absent/sick on 8-15-64. Chimborazo (1862 to 1865) was the most noted and largest military hospital in the annals of history, either ancient or modern. Inside use a 4-margin 10¢ blue #12 tied with part strike of Richmond, Va. cds addressed to "Miss Elizabeth J. Thompson, Palmyra, Fluvanna Co., Va". Top back flap attached to a side flap, but not at top, a bit rough at top. Scarce color cancel and turned use.

Click on each thumbnail at left individually to see both sides of this turned cover.

COBHAM Va. handstamped PAID with "5" in manuscript. Addressee has docketed "Papa, 3 October 1861" in pencil. Addressed "Capt. Alfred L. Rives, care J. R. Moncure, Esq., Richmond, Va." Cobham was an Albemarle County stop on the Virginia Central Rail Road. Ex-Green (signed) and Ex-Powell. A gem.

Alfred Landon Rives was born in 1830 in Paris, France, the son of William Cabell Rives, the distinguished minister to France. During the War, he was acting chief engineer for the State of Virginia and later for the Confederate States, which position he held until the end of the War rising through the ranks to Colonel. He had an illustrious engineering career before, during and after the War.

On Approval

Adams Run, S.C. handstamped PAID (no rate) on gray and white floral wallpaper cover, addressed to J. Berkley Grimball from H. H. Manigault - two powerhouse South Carolina families, Extremely Fine, ex-Kohn, Telep and Wm. A. Fox. Choice!

On Approval

On Approval