| VA3278 |
Cover
covertly privately carried across Chesapeake Bay from CSA controlled
Virginia and put in the Union mail in Lakesville, Md (Dorchester
County) located on the Maryland shore of Chesapeake Bay north of Point
Comfort with final destination in Baltimore. -- US #65 (nice stamp) Pen-Cancelled and manuscript "Lakesville, Md Oct 11 1864." Addressed to Mrs. Catherine E. Webb, No 50 North Green St, Baltimore, Md. Pencil notation which may or may not be period "From L. S. W. C. S. A." Very Fine. Ex-Galen Harrison Collection.
Galen Harrison documents in his research that the cover contained a letter datelined "Fort Maryland, Petersburg Sept. 10, 1864"
from the Siege of Petersburg. Unfortunately, the letter appears no
longer to be with the cover. There is no evidence that this cover
officially went through-the-lines as there are no examiner's marks and
no evidence of CSA postage. The only
way this cover could have traveled from Petersburg, Va, to Lakesville,
Md where it was posted in the Union mail system was to have been
carried privately and covertly across Chesapeake Bay to Lakesville, Md,
located on the shore of the Bay. No other covers are known to have
taken this route from CSA Virginia through Lakesville, Maryland, to a
Union address.
The addressee, Mrs Catherine E. Webb, was the mother of Pvt Lewis S. Webb (b1837) of the 1st Maryland Light Artillery (CSA)
who sent this cover to his mother. Pvt Webb enlisted at Richmond in
this CSA unit 6/1/1861 and served throughout the war in Virginia
surrendering at Appomattox Court House 4/9/1865 and was present at the
Siege of Petersburg. According to the Federal Census of 1860, the Webb
family were Southerners (father from Georgia and mother from Virginia)
and ran a successful Grocery Store in Baltimore in 1860 where Lewis
worked as a clerk. Estimated family worth was $15,000.00 ($550,000.00
in today's money). |
$750.00
SOLD |
JLKCSA@aol.com
-- Confederate Order
Form --