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VERY FINE APPEARING MIXED-FRANKING FLAG-OF-TRUCE COVER FROM DAVID'S ISLAND PRISON IN NEW YORK. A RARE COVER, AS THE PRISON WAS OPEN FOR ONLY FOUR MONTHS TO HOLD CONFEDERATE PRISONERS CAPTURED IN THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
Wheeler, of Company D of the 2nd S.C. Infantry (Kershaw's Brigade, McLaws's Division, Longstreet's 1st Corps) was wounded and captured at the Battle of Gettysburg.
The May 8, 1862, New York Times contained a story about the new David's Island hospital: "A hospital for sick and wounded Union soldiers, will be established on David's Island, 25 miles up the East River. Suitable buildings are now in the course of erection under the superintendence of the United States Quartermaster's Department." From Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War by Lonnie Speer, "Until the Gettysburg battle, David's Island had served as a medical facility for only Union troops. Being a previously established and equipped facility surrounded by water, Union authorities saw it as an excellent place to hold extremely ill prisoners or those who were still suffering from battle wounds. Located in Long Island Sound just off the coast of what is today the New York suburb of New Rochelle, this eighty-acre site would eventually hold more than 2,500 Confederate prisoners at a time." (Image)