The Clovis Collection of Confederate States Illustrated Covers continued...

EXTREMELY FINE. A SPECTACULAR FLAG-OF-TRUCE WALLPAPER COVER FROM ANDERSONVILLE PRISON WITH THE COMMANDANT HENRY WIRZ CENSOR MARK.

This cover combines all of the elements of an outstanding flag-of-truce usage. It was sent from a Union prisoner in the most infamous C.S.A. prison of the war and examined by the Camp Commandant who became the only official to be tried, convicted and executed for war crimes. It has clear markings, is an adversity use and is as fresh as the day it was mailed.

Ex Birkinbine and Walske. With 2010 C.S.A. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE. A GORGEOUS MIXED-FRANKING PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM ANDERSONVILLE PRISON TO NEW YORK VIA RICHMOND AND OLD POINT COMFORT.

Julian Weaton Merrill enlisted as a private in the 24th New York Battery on August 30, 1862. According to the Civil War Plymouth Pilgrims Descendents Society website, he was captured on April 20, 1864, at Plymouth N.C. and sent to Andersonville before being exchanged on November 20, 1864. While at Andersonville, a mock election was held in the stockade on November 4, 1864, to decide between the two candidates for President of the United States -- Abraham Lincoln and former Commander of the Army of the Potomac George B. McClellan. Merrill opened the meeting by singing "Columbia the Gem of the Ocean" and served as a ballot clerk for the election. Lincoln won the election by a vote of 945-795. Merrill survived Andersonville and in 1870 wrote a history of the 24th N.Y. Battery. He died in 1912 at the age of 71.

Ex Walske. With 1984 P.F. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE. A BEAUTIFUL MIXED-FRANKING PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM CAMP SORGHUM, SENT VIA THE RICHMOND AND OLD POINT COMFORT FLAG-OF-TRUCE ROUTE AND CENSORED BY THE CAMP COMMANDANT.

From the history of the 145th Pennsylvania Volunteers (http://www.145thpvi.org/main.htm), David B. McCreary was commissioned an officer in Company B, Pennsylvania Erie Infantry Regiment on April 21, 1861. In March 1862 he helped form and lead the 145th Infantry Regiment. He quickly rose in rank during the war and became a brigadier general by 1865. He was captured at Petersburg on June 16, 1864 and in addition to Camp Sorgum, he was a prisoner at Libby Prison, Andersonville and Macon Ga. -- spending a total of ten months in captivity. He survived his confinement and after the war served in the Pennsylvania State Legislature and as Adjutant General to the state governor.

Ex Walske. Illustrated in Special Routes (p. 73) (Image)

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VERY FINE. ONE OF THREE RECORDED PRISONER-OF-WAR COVERS WITH THE 10-CENT ROSE LITHOGRAPH, WHICH FOLLOWED A RARE FLAG-OF-TRUCE EXCHANGE ROUTE VIA PETERSBURG AND OLD POINT COMFORT. THIS WAS DESCRIBED IN THE EARL ANTRIM BOOK AS "PERHAPS THE MOST DESIRABLE OF ALL THE CONFEDERATE PRISONER-OF-WAR COVERS" -- AN OPINION WITH WHICH WE CERTAINLY AGREE.

When Federal troops occupied Norfolk on May 9, 1862, the C.S.A. flag-of-truce exchange point was moved up the James River to Aiken's Landing, Virginia, with the U.S. exchange point remaining across the Chesapeake Bay at Fortress Monroe. Aiken's Landing was used by the C.S.A. for only a short time, after which their exchange point was moved to City Point, Virginia. With the July 1862 implementation of the prisoner exchange cartel, prisoner populations were temporarily drastically reduced and flag-of-truce mail exchanges were virtually eliminated. Because of the very short period of time this route was in existence, mail via Petersburg is among the rarest of prisoners' flag-of-truce mail. These covers also represent the earliest possible mixed-franking covers with U.S. and Confederate stamps.

Joseph L. Parry was chief engineer on the U.S. transport steamer Union when it ran aground on November 3, 1861, on the North Carolina coast. Parry was held at Salisbury Prison until his exchange in September 1862. The Parry correspondence to and from the prison was described in two outstanding articles by Lawrence Lohr in the Confederate Philatelist in 1995 and 2008.

We record only three 10c Rose lithographs on prisoner-of-war covers (not counting civilian flag-of-truce covers). Each was sent from Salisbury Prison, and the other two (both to Maine) bear only the 10c Rose, without the U.S. 3c 1861 (see Siegel Sales 1071, lot 4678 and 1087, lot 581). A very similar cover from the Parry correspondence, but franked with a 10c Blue Hoyer & Ludwig issue, was in the Steven Walske collection (Siegel Sale 988, lot 107).

Ex Kilbourne. Illustrated in Antrim Civil War Prisons and Their Covers on p. 154 (Image)

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