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EXTREMELY FINE. A MAGNIFICENT PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER. REGARDED TO BE THE FINEST OF THE FEW KNOWN UNION PATRIOTIC ENVELOPES USED FROM A CONFEDERATE PRISON.
Illustrated in Antrim (p. 132). Accompanied by article from July 1960 Confederate Philatelist, reporting this cover and the Mix-Knapp correspondence (Image)
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VERY FINE AND EXTREMELY RARE COVER FROM A PRISONER CONFINED AT THE C.S.A. HOUSTON PRISON. SENT VIA FLAG-OF-TRUCE THROUGH GALVESTON AND THE U.S. NAVAL BLOCKADING SQUADRON IN THE GULF OF MEXICO.
Federal defeats in Texas in 1863 left a large number of Union prisoners in the Houston area. The only Union forces near the Confederate prisons in this area were the naval ships blockading Galveston harbor. To facilitate the exchange of released prisoners and mail, a flag-of-truce route developed between Confederate controlled Galveston and offshore U.S. naval ships of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron (Special Routes p. 82).
Surviving prisoner-of-war covers from the Houston prison are extremely rare. The Harrison book records only three and outside of that group there are probably no more than a handful others. (Image)
A FINE AND RARE COVER FROM A UNION PRISONER HELD IN A CONFEDERATE PRISON CAMP IN TEXAS, CARRIED BY THE SHREVEPORT-NEW ORLEANS FLAG-OF-TRUCE ROUTE. FEWER THAN TEN COVERS FROM CAMP FORD ARE KNOWN.
The Federal occupation of Baton Rouge on May 12, 1862, left the U.S. in control of southeastern Louisiana. The close proximity of U.S. and C.S.A. forces in Louisiana led to flag-of-truce prisoner and P.O.W. mail exchanges in 1863 to 1865. The principal exchange point was along the Mississippi River between U.S.-controlled Red River Landing and C.S.A.-controlled Simmesport. Most of the northbound mail has manuscript examined markings by Major Hyllested, Provost Marshal General of Texas at Houston, or, in the case of this cover, by Major Szymanski, Assistant Agent of Exchange for the Trans-Mississippi Department at Shreveport, Louisiana. The few surviving northbound covers are inner envelopes from C.S.A. prisons which were routed via Shreveport, Simmesport and Red River Landing to enter the U.S. mails at New Orleans. Camp Ford in Tyler was close to Shreveport, just over the Texas line. (Image)