The cover featured in this article was sold in March, 1983 as Lot #697 in Robert G. Kaufmann's Sale No. 27. It was described simply as a POW cover from New Orleans with a notation that "Antrim recorded 3 covers from New Orleans. My bid was not adequate to acquire the cover. A couple years ago, the same cover was offered in a Schuyler Rumsey sale with more or less the same wording, although now reporting 11 covers known from New Orleans. There was still no indication of which prison James R. Y. Fendall was held! I decided to investigate further.

In the Broadfoot listing in Winston-Salem Library's North Carolina Room, I found a James R. Y. Fendall listed in Co H 18th Mississippi Infantry. Satisfied that this was most likely the prisoner, I started to leave the library. Before I left, however, I looked in the index to the CSA Navy Official Records. I was surprised to find in there the name James R. Y. Fendall. Why would the name of a private in the 18th Mississippi Infantry appear in the Navy 0. R. (Official records)? I turned to the appropriate volume and found a James R. Y. Fendall mentioned as a Confederate Marine. Could this be the same individual?

Back at home I consulted Ralph W. Donnelly's Biographical Sketches of the Commissioned Officers of the Confederate States Marine Corps. In that book, a remarkable story began to unfold. James Robert Young Fendall was born in 1838 or 1839, the son of Philip Richard Fendall and Elizabeth Mary Young. Fendall's father, a prominent lawyer in the Washington DC area was a first cousin of Robert E. Lee. The Lees of Virginia were not young Fendall's only famous relatives. His uncle was former Mississippi Governor Albert Gallatin Brown.

When the War Between the States broke out, Albert Gallatin Brown, a US Senator from Mississippi, resigned his Senate seat to accept a commission as a Captain in the Confederate Army. Brown's company known as "'Brown's Rebels" was mustered into service as Co H 18th Mississippi Infantry. Fendall enlisted in his uncle's unit May 20, 1861. His unit took part in the First Battle of Manassas.

Fendall had distinguished himself in the short time he had been in the 18th Mississippi to the extent that on July 30th he was nominated by the Confederate States of America Senate as a Second Lieutenant of Marines. He was confirmed in August and sent to Pensacola, Florida after being formally discharged from the CS Army. By February 15, 1862, Fendall had been promoted to First Lieutenant. Most of Fendall's service from mid 1862 to mid 1864 was at the Station in Mobile, Alabama. He was captured August 8, 1864 at the surrender of Fort Gaines, Alabama and sent to prison in New Orleans. He escaped from prison in company with Lieutenants John Lawrence Rapier, David G. Raney and Captain Julious E. Meiere.

But where in New Orleans were they kept? The answer to that comes from a fascinating five page article from The Confederate Veteran. The Confederate Veteran credited the New Orleans Times-Democrat of January 31, 1894. The article was an interview with former Confederate Marine Lieutenant John Lawrence Rapier. Rapier was captured with Fendall at the surrender of Fort Gaines. He says they were first put in the Picayune Press but were moved in a few days to the Union Press which he said was "way up town." Rapier said they were in the Union Press about three weeks. He said at that time prisoner exchanges had been halted, but due to the influence of a Federal admiral who had a son in a Confederate prison (he probably was referring to Admiral Paulding whose son was a prisoner) a special exchange was being worked out.

As a result, Rapier, Fendall and sixteen other Marine and Naval Officers were removed from the Union Press and sent to the office formerly occupied by Hewitt, Norton & Co. on Common Street. They were closely guarded by US Regular Army troops. As a side note here, it should be mentioned that, as a result of the war, the cotton business had been so disrupted in New Orleans that many buildings used in that trade were vacant. All three buildings mentioned by Rapier, the Picayune Press, the Union Press, and the former office of Hewitt, Norton & Co. on Common Street were vacant for that reason.

Rapier and his 17 fellow prisoners decided that, if they could escape before the exchange took place, then the Federal officers would have to stay in prison. They made plans and put them into effect. Early plans were thwarted because there was a spy among them, the spy being a Confederate deserter. Interestingly enough, it was one of the US Army guards that told them there was a spy among them. An appeal to the Federal commander resulted in the spy being removed from their midst, probably as much for his safety as for their benefit. After the spy was removed, they went to work in earnest taking turns with a chisel removing bricks in the back of a closet.

About 7:00pm on October 13th, Rapier and his fellow prisoners made their escape. Thirteen of the eighteen made it out of the prison, and no one was recaptured. Their success effectively destroyed plans for the special exchange. Rapier had lived most of his life in New Orleans. He and Fendall stayed ten days in the home of family friends and then made their way to Confederate lines. Rapier's mother was still living in New Orleans, and she came to the house to see her son while he was there.

This POW cover from James R. Y. Fendall serves to remind us that the War Between the States was truly a war of brother against brother. Fendall's brother was Captain Philip R. Fendall, Jr. of the United States Marine Corps. One might wonder, considering the small numbers involved, if there were any other families that had a son in both Marine Corps. Another brother, Clarence Fendall, was a member of the US Coastal Survey. Incidently, Clarence Fendall was in a two-man boat just offshore from Vicksburg as that city was under siege. He and his partner were able to plot and report the position of Vicksburg's defenses.

After the war, Fendall returned briefly to his Uncle Albert Gallatin Brown's home in Terry, Mississippi. From there he returned to New Orleans where he worked for the Jackson Railroad Company. He died in New Orleans on August 11, 1867. Following the war, John Lawrence Rapier was involved with newspaper publishing in Mobile, Alabama. He was eventually appointed Postmaster of Mobile by President Cleveland. He served in that capacity for four years. He died May 7, 1905.

Fendall's letter according to his father's meticulous docketing, was written October 7, 1864 and passed through the New Orleans post office October 13th. It was examined by Major James Price Canby and forwarded by General Hitchcock.