| VA3361 |
Stampless PAID cover with a BLUE handstamp PAID (no rate) and no postmark. The blue handstamp PAID is consistent with Portsmouth, Va., and the cover is addressed to Portsmouth. The cover represents a Drop Letter
postal use as it was fairly common practice not to use a postmark on a
drop letter which never left the post office where it was mailed. Confederate States Navy related cover addressed to Asst Surgeon Chas M. Morfit, C. S. Navy, Portsmouth, Virginia.
Receiving docketing at the left dates the cover to "Monday 17 JUN 1861
XI am". Minor light foxing and a horizontal file fold across the top
above the address. Still quite a clean appearance.
Charles
McLean Morfit (1838-1925) obtained his MD degree from the University of
Maryland (Baltimore) in 1861. He was offered an appointment as Asst
Surgeon in the US Navy in 1861 but declined and accepted an
appointment as Asst Surgeon in the Confederate States Navy 6/10/1861.
The cover here offered was received only one week after his appointment
as Asst Surgeon and may have contained orders. He served throughout the
war at multiple locations and assigned to multiple CSN warships. His
first assignment was the New Orleans station and the CSS Ivy (a side wheel river steamer) 1861-1862. He was captured as a POW near Savannah 8/20/1863 while escaping the CSS Oconee
which foundered and sunk near Savannah in bad weather 8/18/1863
carrying cotton bound for England. He was confined first at the Old
Capitol Prison in Washington DC and transferred to Fort McHenry
11/18/1863 where he was paroled and exchanged 11/21/1863 through City
Point, Virginia. After exchange, he continued his service in the CSN
until the end of the war. After the war, he returned to Baltimore where
he spent the rest of his life practicing and teaching medicine. He is
buried in Washington DC at the Oak Hill Cemetery. A full listing of his
CSN assignments accompanies the cover. |
$450.00
Sale
Pending |
JLKCSA@aol.com
-- Confederate Order
Form --