Confederacy, 1861, 10¢ dark blue, Hoyer & Ludwig printing (small faults, three huge margins) tied by neat Montgomery, Ala./Feb. 6, 1862 cds on brown homemade cover to Surgeon Francis Thornton, Ringgold, Georgia with "Official" notation in manuscript at upper left, This cover featured in Terry Hambrecht's article in the March-April 1987 Confederate Philatelist, page 10. Greatly detailed bio included from the unpublished biographical register of physicians who served the Confederacy in a medical capacity., ex-Hambrecht. Scott No. 2b  Estimate $200 - 300. Dr. Francis Thornton, Jr. (1827-1863) was born in Virginia and received his M.D. from University of Louisville in 1850. He served the CSA as Surgeon in Ringgold, Ga; Chattanooga, Tenn; Atlanta, Ga; Rienzi, Miss; and Gainesville, Ala. In his CP article, Hamrecht recounts how Dr. Thornton was transferred to Foard's Hospital in Chattanooga. During the night of May 31, 1863, two drunken men, one of whom was a nurse at the hospital, went to Dr. Thornton's house and insisted that he give them some "medicinal" whiskey. He ordered them off and when he followed them out the gate, one of them stabbed him with a knife. He died a half hour later. $0 (Image)