| VA2107 |
CSA #7 Horz Pair tied by the Richmond, Va CDS Powell Type 5f 18 JUL
(1864). Adversity Cover with the stamps placed over the embossing of
the 1c Blue Star Due. The right stamp of the pair has been flapped down
from the top right in order to show the blue embossing underneath and
sealed in place for preservation. Period docketing at left “Answered 2nd
Jany 1865.” Addressed to Genl Alfred Beckley, Princeton Mercer County,
Virginia Care of Mr. David Hall P. Master. The address location is in the
southern part of the Union State of West Virginia but is a border area that
was still under Confederate control at this time. Alfred Beckley
(1802-1888), an 1823 West Point graduate, was commisioned Brig-Gen of
Virginia Militia in 1850, a commssion that he still held at the beginning of
the war. He commanded a brigade of Virginia Militia in the Kanawha
Valley in 1861 and later attempted unsuccessfully to form a regiment which
was to be designated the 35th Va Inf but was never organized. Gen Beckley
resigned from the Virginia Militia 2/18/1862. When he returned to his
home in Raleigh County in March 1862, the area was under Union
occupation and would later in 1863 be incorported into the Union State of
West Virginia. He was taken as a POW and confined for a few months in
Columbus, Ohio until paroled in June 1862. After this he took no further
part in the war although his five sons all fought for the Confederacy. The
town of Beckley in Raleigh County, (West) Virginia was named for his
father and was the site of his home. That area was under Union control
which explains why the cover was sent to him at Princeton which is in the
adjacent county that was under Confederate control. The cover very likely
was sent by one of his sons in the Confederate Army or perhaps by someone
in Richmond with whom he was doing busines and then would have to have
been handcarried from Confederate occupied Mercer County to Union
Raleigh County which explains the delay in answering date versus posting
date. Complex usage between Confederate Virginia and Union West
Virginia. Adversity CSA usages of the USA 1c Blue Star Die envelopes are
very scarce with perhaps only about half a dozen covers known. Cover
shows just a little light foxing and some trivial edge wear but otherwise is
Very Fine and ready to exhibit.
|
$2,500.00 |
JLKCSA@aol.com
-- Confederate Order Form --