The Steven C. Walske Collection of Special Mail Routes of the American Civil War continued...

FRESH AND EXTREMLEY FINE MIXED-FRANKING FLAG-OF-TRUCE COVER FROM SANDUSKY PRISON.

Ex Haas. With 1981 P.F. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE AND RARE MIXED-FRANKING COVER FROM THE PRISON HOSPITAL ESTABLISHED NEAR THE GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD AND SENT VIA FLAG-OF-TRUCE TO RICHMOND.

Benjamin Franklin Little was appointed captain in Company E, North Carolina 52nd Infantry Regiment, on April 28, 1862, and promoted to full lieutenant-colonel on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. During Pickett's Charge, Lt. Col. Little was severely wounded while leading his men and captured on the battlefield. After spending time at the Letterman Hospital at Gettysburg, he was transported on September 28 to West's Building Hospital in Baltimore, then to Ft. McHenry Prison on October 22, 1863. Records show he was mustered out on August 30, 1864, at Gettysburg.

The Little correspondence is well known, and some of it is preserved at the Greensboro Historical Archives. According to the archives' website: "Benjamin Franklin Little was a planter and in the late 1850s married the former Mary Jean 'Flax' Reid, daughter of influential planter and politician Rufus Reid of Iredell County, North Carolina. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Little was appointed captain in the North Carolina Troops in March 1862 and in August of that year received his commission, which placed the company he commanded in the 52nd Regiment. At the battle of Gettysburg, Little was severely wounded, then captured by Union forces and hospitalized. His wound would subsequently require the amputation of his left arm, after which he was sent to prison in Maryland. In March 1864 he was paroled at Point Lookout, Maryland, and shortly thereafter exchanged at City Point, Virginia. A month later he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel to the Field and Staff of the 52nd Regiment, but by July he submitted his resignation due to reasons associated with his disability. Upon his release from service, Little returned to the family home, called Carlisle, to farming and other business ventures. In the last year of the war he became active in state politics and later served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1876. He died at his residence in July 1879."

In the aftermath of the bloody battle of Gettysburg, approximately 22,000 soldiers of both armies required medical treatment, including thousands of wounded Confederate soldiers left behind as Lee began his retreat. Treatment of the wounded at Gettysburg was the responsibility of the Army of the Potomac. Dr. Jonathan Letterman, Medical Director for George G. Meade's Army issued orders on July 5, 1863, to establish a general hospital in the Gettysburg area and provide transportation and supplies to the site for treatment of the wounded. In his honor, the temporary hospital was named after him. The site chosen for the vast hospital camp was on the George Wolf Farm, roughly one and one-half miles east of Gettysburg on the York Pike. The hospital was ready by mid-July and staffed with a small army of surgeons, nurses, cooks, quartermaster and supply clerks while a detachment of infantry was detailed as camp guards to look after stores and hospitalized Confederate prisoners. Treated with equal care by the Union surgeons and nurses, the Confederate soldiers were later transported to northern prison camps before parole. Less than 100 patients remained at Camp Letterman by November 10 and it was officially closed a few weeks later. (from the National Park Service Gettysburg website at http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/getttour/sidebar/letterman.htm).

Illustrated in Special Routes (p. 235) (Image)

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VERY FINE AND CHOICE. A GORGEOUS AND RARE MIXED-FRANKING PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM WEST'S BUILDING HOSPITAL IN BALTIMORE IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

Benjamin Franklin Little was appointed captain in Company E, North Carolina 52nd Infantry Regiment, on April 28, 1862, and promoted to full lieutenant-colonel on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. During Pickett's Charge, Lt. Col. Little was severely wounded while leading his men and captured on the battlefield. After spending time at the Letterman Hospital at Gettysburg, he was transported on September 28 to West's Building Hospital in Baltimore, then to Ft. McHenry Prison on October 22, 1863. Records show he was mustered out on August 30, 1864, at Gettysburg.

The Little correspondence is well known, and some of it is preserved at the Greensboro Historical Archives. According to the archives' website: "Benjamin Franklin Little was a planter and in the late 1850s married the former Mary Jean 'Flax' Reid, daughter of influential planter and politician Rufus Reid of Iredell County, North Carolina. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Little was appointed captain in the North Carolina Troops in March 1862 and in August of that year received his commission, which placed the company he commanded in the 52nd Regiment. At the battle of Gettysburg, Little was severely wounded, then captured by Union forces and hospitalized. His wound would subsequently require the amputation of his left arm, after which he was sent to prison in Maryland. In March 1864 he was paroled at Point Lookout, Maryland, and shortly thereafter exchanged at City Point, Virginia. A month later he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel to the Field and Staff of the 52nd Regiment, but by July he submitted his resignation due to reasons associated with his disability. Upon his release from service, Little returned to the family home, called Carlisle, to farming and other business ventures. In the last year of the war he became active in state politics and later served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1876. He died at his residence in July 1879."

West's Building Hospital and Fort McHenry were used sparingly after the July 1863 Gettysburg campaign. Fort McHenry was principally used for prisoners in transit to other prisons, and West's Hospital cared for up to 250 wounded prisoners. Covers from either are scarce, with West's slightly rarer than Ft. McHenry. Only manuscript examined markings are known from these prisons, and they appear on only some of the mail. The principal identifying characteristic of southbound mail is a Baltimore, Maryland postmark and entry into the C.S.A. mails at Richmond. Distinguishing between the Fort McHenry and West's Hospital can sometimes be done by examined markings, or in the case of this cover, by prisoners' service records. (Image)

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VERY FINE AND RARE MIXED-FRANKING PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM WEST'S BUILDING HOSPITAL IN BALTIMORE. SENT BY A CONFEDERATE OFFICER WOUNDED IN PICKETT'S CHARGE DURING THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

Benjamin Franklin Little was appointed captain in Company E, North Carolina 52nd Infantry Regiment, on April 28, 1862, and promoted to full lieutenant-colonel on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. During Pickett's Charge, Lt. Col. Little was severely wounded while leading his men and captured on the battlefield. After spending time at the Letterman Hospital at Gettysburg, he was transported on September 28 to West's Building Hospital in Baltimore, then to Ft. McHenry Prison on October 22, 1863. Records show he was mustered out on August 30, 1864, at Gettysburg.

The Little correspondence is well known, and some of it is preserved at the Greensboro Historical Archives. According to the archives' website: "Benjamin Franklin Little was a planter and in the late 1850s married the former Mary Jean 'Flax' Reid, daughter of influential planter and politician Rufus Reid of Iredell County, North Carolina. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Little was appointed captain in the North Carolina Troops in March 1862 and in August of that year received his commission, which placed the company he commanded in the 52nd Regiment. At the battle of Gettysburg, Little was severely wounded, then captured by Union forces and hospitalized. His wound would subsequently require the amputation of his left arm, after which he was sent to prison in Maryland. In March 1864 he was paroled at Point Lookout, Maryland, and shortly thereafter exchanged at City Point, Virginia. A month later he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel to the Field and Staff of the 52nd Regiment, but by July he submitted his resignation due to reasons associated with his disability. Upon his release from service, Little returned to the family home, called Carlisle, to farming and other business ventures. In the last year of the war he became active in state politics and later served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1876. He died at his residence in July 1879."

West's Building Hospital and Fort McHenry were used sparingly after the July 1863 Gettysburg campaign. Fort McHenry was principally used for prisoners in transit to other prisons, and West's Hospital cared for up to 250 wounded prisoners. Covers from either are scarce, with West's slightly rarer than Ft. McHenry. Only manuscript examined markings are known from these prisons, and they appear on only some of the mail. The principal identifying characteristic of southbound mail is a Baltimore, Maryland postmark and entry into the C.S.A. mails at Richmond. Distinguishing between the Fort McHenry and West's Hospital can sometimes be done by examined markings, or in the case of this cover, by prisoners' service records. (Image)

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VERY FINE AND RARE EXAMPLE OF A MIXED-FRANKING PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM FT. MCHENRY AND CENSORED AT OLD CAPITOL PRISON IN WASHINGTON. SENT BY A CONFEDERATE OFFICER WHO WAS WOUNDED IN PICKETT'S CHARGE DURING THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

Benjamin Franklin Little was appointed captain in Company E, North Carolina 52nd Infantry Regiment, on April 28, 1862, and promoted to full lieutenant-colonel on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. During Pickett's Charge, Lt. Col. Little was severely wounded while leading his men and captured on the battlefield. After spending time at the Letterman Hospital at Gettysburg, he was transported on September 28 to West's Building Hospital in Baltimore, then to Ft. McHenry Prison on October 22, 1863. Records show he was mustered out on August 30, 1864, at Gettysburg.

The Little correspondence is well known, and some of it is preserved at the Greensboro Historical Archives. According to the archives' website: "Benjamin Franklin Little was a planter and in the late 1850s married the former Mary Jean 'Flax' Reid, daughter of influential planter and politician Rufus Reid of Iredell County, North Carolina. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Little was appointed captain in the North Carolina Troops in March 1862 and in August of that year received his commission, which placed the company he commanded in the 52nd Regiment. At the battle of Gettysburg, Little was severely wounded, then captured by Union forces and hospitalized. His wound would subsequently require the amputation of his left arm, after which he was sent to prison in Maryland. In March 1864 he was paroled at Point Lookout, Maryland, and shortly thereafter exchanged at City Point, Virginia. A month later he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel to the Field and Staff of the 52nd Regiment, but by July he submitted his resignation due to reasons associated with his disability. Upon his release from service, Little returned to the family home, called Carlisle, to farming and other business ventures. In the last year of the war he became active in state politics and later served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1876. He died at his residence in July 1879."

West's Building Hospital and Fort McHenry were used sparingly after the July 1863 Gettysburg campaign. Fort McHenry was principally used for prisoners in transit to other prisons, and West's Hospital cared for up to 250 wounded prisoners. Covers from either are scarce, with West's slightly rarer than Ft. McHenry. Only manuscript examined markings are known from these prisons, and they appear on only some of the mail. The red Provost Marshal markings are usually found on covers with either U.S. or Confederate postage, but normally not both.

Illustrated in Antrim (p. 175) (Image)

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VERY FINE. A CHOICE MIXED-FRANKING PRIONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM FORT McHENRY PRISON IN BALTIMORE.

Benjamin Franklin Little was appointed captain in Company E, North Carolina 52nd Infantry Regiment, on April 28, 1862, and promoted to full lieutenant-colonel on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. During Pickett's Charge, Lt. Col. Little was severely wounded while leading his men and captured on the battlefield. After spending time at the Letterman Hospital at Gettysburg, he was transported on September 28 to West's Building Hospital in Baltimore, then to Ft. McHenry Prison on October 22, 1863. Records show he was mustered out on August 30, 1864, at Gettysburg.

The Little correspondence is well known, and some of it is preserved at the Greensboro Historical Archives. According to the archives' website: "Benjamin Franklin Little was a planter and in the late 1850s married the former Mary Jean 'Flax' Reid, daughter of influential planter and politician Rufus Reid of Iredell County, North Carolina. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Little was appointed captain in the North Carolina Troops in March 1862 and in August of that year received his commission, which placed the company he commanded in the 52nd Regiment. At the battle of Gettysburg, Little was severely wounded, then captured by Union forces and hospitalized. His wound would subsequently require the amputation of his left arm, after which he was sent to prison in Maryland. In March 1864 he was paroled at Point Lookout, Maryland, and shortly thereafter exchanged at City Point, Virginia. A month later he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel to the Field and Staff of the 52nd Regiment, but by July he submitted his resignation due to reasons associated with his disability. Upon his release from service, Little returned to the family home, called Carlisle, to farming and other business ventures. In the last year of the war he became active in state politics and later served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1876. He died at his residence in July 1879."

West's Building Hospital and Fort McHenry were used sparingly after the July 1863 Gettysburg campaign. Fort McHenry was principally used for prisoners in transit to other prisons, and West's Hospital cared for up to 250 wounded prisoners. Covers from either are scarce, with West's slightly rarer than Ft. McHenry. Only manuscript examined markings are known from these prisons, and they appear on only some of the mail. The principal identifying characteristic of southbound mail is a Baltimore, Maryland postmark and entry into the C.S.A. mails at Richmond. Distinguishing between the Fort McHenry and West's Hospital can sometimes be done by examined markings, or in the case of this cover, by prisoners' service records. (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. UNUSUAL MIXED FRANKING ON A PRISONER-OF-WAR COVER FROM POINT LOOKOUT THROUGH OLD POINT COMFORT AND RICKMOND.

A description of Point Lookout Prison can be found at the William L. Clements Library website (http://www.clements.umich.edu/Webguides/Schoff/NP/Point.html): "The Point Lookout Prison was built on the tip of the peninsula where the Potomac River joins Chesapeake Bay. In the two years during which the camp was in operation, August 1863 to June 1865, Point Lookout overflowed with inmates, surpassing its intended capacity of 10,000 to a population numbering between 12,500 and 20,000. In all, over 50,000 men, both military and civilian, were held prisoner there. G. W. Jones, a private of Co. H, 24th Virginia Cavalry, described his ominous entrance into the prison amidst 'a pile of coffins for dead rebels,' hearing the lid close shut on his own soon thereafter when he learned that the system of prisoner exchanges had been suspended. Prisoners, who lived sixteen or more to a tent, were subjected to habitually short rations and limited fire wood in winter, and when the coffee ration was suspended for federal prisoners at Andersonville, the Point Lookout prisoners lost theirs as well. The flat topography, sandy soil, and an elevation barely above high tide led to poor drainage, and the area was subjected to every imaginable extreme of weather, from blazing heat to bone-chilling cold. Polluted water exacerbated the problems of inadequate food, clothing, fuel, housing, and medical care, and as a result, approximately 4,000 prisoners died there over 22 months." (Image)

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A REMARKABLE COMBINATION OF MARKINGS ON A "DOUBLE" FLAG-OF-TRUCE COVER SENT THROUGH THE LINES TO RICHMOND AND THEN AGAIN THROUGH THE LINES TO UNION OCCUPIED NEW BERN.

This cover is noteworthy in several respects. It crossed the lines twice via flag-of-truce in order to reach Union-occupied New Bern. In addition, the Lawson Provost Marshal handstamp is extremely rare and the advertising for an undeliverable prisoner's letter is quite unusual.

Point Lookout (Camp Hoffman) was established shortly after the July 1863 Gettysburg campaign and was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners. From August to December 1863, outgoing P.O.W. mail was examined at the camp and then forwarded to Washington D.C. for entry into the U.S. mails. Starting in January 1864, outgoing P.O.W. mail was posted at Point Lookout. All of its mail entered the C.S.A. mails at Richmond. More than 250 surviving covers and 2,000 fronts are known. A number of manuscript examined markings were used, as well as two types of handstamped manuscript markings. (Image)

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