Confederacy, Union (West) Va./July 23rd (186)3", manuscript postmark on cover franked with manuscript cancelled 1863, 10¢ blue (margins a bit irregular), addressed to Dr. Tomlin Braxton at the Winder Hospital in Richmond, cover shows some overall soiling and two old tape stains, the lower left corner of the cover has been repaired involving just a small part of the address only, Fine appearance, a very interesting CSA usage from Union West Virginia, ex-Thayer. Scott No. 11  Estimate $150 - 200. Union is in Monroe County which was incorporated into the Union State of West Virginia in June 1863. Cover is dated about one month after West Virginia was admitted to the Union as the 35th state and therefore shows CSA usage from Union territory. Either the Union, West Va postmaster continued to operate the CSA mails for a time, or more likely that area of Monroe County may have been under a brief CSA occupation. Surgeon Major Tomlin Braxton (born 1832 and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1854) was the regimental surgeon for the 19th Va. Inf. early in the war and later had service as a medical officer with other units. He was captured as a POW at Kanawha (West) Virginia in May 1862 and was confined briefly at Camp Chase until released in June 1862. $0 (Image)