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Sale 43: The Westpex Sale

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Confederate States: The Monroe Collection: Free Franks, Military & Key Dates

Lots 1-10 Lots 11-12

Lot 1    

Confederacy, (Free Franks) W.P. Chilton/M.C. Blue manuscript free frank on 1862 cover to Greenville, Ala., franked with 1862 5¢ blue horiz. pair (four large even margins) tied by "Richmond, Va./Sep. 5, 1862" cds, Extremely Fine and choice (Pictured in Monroe Book, pg. 72).
Scott No. 7    Estimate $150 - 200.

Confederate Congressmen were granted a limited franking privilege by the Confederate Post Office Department but it did not give them the privilege of free postage enjoyed by their Federal counterparts. They were allowed to mail letters postage due as long as they franked them. However, it was the norm for Confederate Congressmen to frank their mail but not take advantage of the postage due privilege. This cover is a nice example where the Congressman franked the envelope but still paid the postage.

Realized: $375

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Lot 2    

Confederacy, (Free Franks) Wm. W. Boyce/M.C. Manuscript free frank on 1862 cover to his wife in his hometown of Winnsboro, S.C., postmarked "Richmond, Va." cds with matching "Due 5" straight line handstamp, Very Fine (Pictured in Monroe Book, pg. 72).
Estimate    $150 - 200.

Confederate Congressmen were granted a limited franking privilege by the Confederate Post Office Department but it did not give them the privilege of free postage enjoyed by their Federal counterparts. They were allowed to mail letters postage due as long as they franked them. However, it was the norm for Confederate Congressmen to frank their mail but not take advantage of the postage due privilege. This cover is a scarce example of a Congressman mailing a franked letter postage due.

Realized: $400

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Lot 3    

Confederacy, (Military Related) Brigadier General James Chesnut, Jr. Pretty blue envelope addressed to "Hon James Chesnut Jr of South Carolina, Richmond, Va." franked with a pair of 1862 5¢ blue stamps (large margins to just touched at right) tied by Pocotaligo, S.C./, May 28 (1863) cds, At the time, Chesnut was a Colonel serving as aide to President Davis, Very Fine and choice.
Estimate    $200 - 300.

Brigadier General James Chesnut, Jr. was born in 1815 on Mulberry Plantation near Camden, South Carolina. Chesnut was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1852, where he believed in preserving slavery and the Southern way of life. With the election of Abraham Lincoln as president, Chesnut decided that he could no longer stay in his office in the Senate. On November 10, 1860, he withdrew from the Senate, being the first Southern senator to withdraw. He was expelled in absentia from the Senate the next year.

Chesnut participated in the South Carolina secession convention in December 1860 and in the spring of 1861 he served as volunteer aide-de-camp to General Pierre G.T. Beauregard and participated in the capture of Fort Sumter. He later took part in the First Battle of Manassas with Beauregard.

In 1862 Chesnut served as Chief of the Department of the Military of South Carolina. Later he was commissioned as a Colonel in the Confederate Army and appointed as aide-de-camp to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. On April 23, 1864, he was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of South Carolina reserve forces until the end of the war.

Realized: $325

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Lot 4    

Confederacy, (Military Related) Brigadier General James Johnston Pettigrew. Attractive cover franked with 1861 5¢ green (just touched at bottom right) tied by bold "Accokeek, Va./Feb. 15, 1862" cds, envelope addressed by General Pettigrew to his bother William in Scuppernong, N.C., docketing at left indicating the letter was written on Feb. 13th and was from "General J.J. Pettigrew", Very Fine and attractive (Pictured in Monroe Book, pg. 43).
Estimate    $200 - 300.

Brigadier General James Johnston Pettigrew was born in Tyrrell County, North Carolina, on July 4, 1828. Upon graduation from the University of North Carolina in 1847, President Polk appointed him as an assistant professor at the Naval Observatory in Washington. He was elected to the South Carolina legislature in 1856. Active in the militia, he was a colonel in the 1st Regiment of Rifles in Charleston and saw service in Charleston Harbor during the fateful days of April 1861. In May 1861, he enlisted in Hampton's Legion where he was elected colonel of the 12th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. On February 26, 1862, he was commissioned as a brigadier general.

His military service was marked with repeated bravery. During the Battle of Seven Pines he was wounded, bayonetted and captured. Upon his exchange two months later, he commanded the defenses of Petersburg, Virginia. He later commanded a brigade under Major General Henry Heth at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. When General Heth was wounded on the first day of fighting, General Pettigrew took command of his division and led them in "Pickett's Charge." Although wounded in the hand, he was one of the last to leave the field. After the Battle of Gettysburg, General Pettigrew was in command of a portion of the rear guard. During the Confederate retreat to the Potomac River, he was mortally wounded on July 14, 1863, at Falling Waters, Maryland, and died three days later near Bunker Hill, Virginia.

Realized: $525

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Lot 5    

Confederacy, (Military Related) Brigadier General Stand Watie. Cover addressed to "Brig Gen Stand Watie, Comdg- Div. In. Terry (Commanding, Division Indian Territory), Boggy Depot, CN", and has a manuscript "Lampasas (Texas), April 17, 1865" postmark with a manuscript "Pd 10" rate, envelope endorsed "Official Business" in the upper right, reduced at left just affecting manuscript postmark, Very Fine, a very rare usage, ex-Bleuler (Pictured in Monroe Book, pg. 44).
Estimate    $500 - 750.

Brigadier General Stand Watie was the son of a full-blooded Cherokee father and half-blood mother. He attended an Indian mission school and became a planter. Later, he ran a Cherokee newspaper with his brother. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he commanded the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles with the rank of Colonel. Active as a cavalry raider, he commanded his troops at Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, and in many skirmishes in the Indian Territory and Arkansas. In May 1864, he was promoted to Brigadier General and commanded all Indian forces. He finally surrendered to Union forces on June 23, 1865, at Doaksville, Choctaw Nation. His command was the last Confederate force to surrender. Brigadier General Stand Watie was the only Indian General in the Confederate States Army.

Notwithstanding there were 28 post offices in the Indian Nations, Confederate States covers from and/or to post offices in the Indian Nations are very rare.

Realized: $2,000

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Lot 6    

Confederacy, (Military Related) Cadet Reuben C. Akers. Cover addressed to Cadet Reuben C. Akers, V.M.I. (Virginia Military Institute) in Lexington, Virginia, franked with 1863-64 10¢ blue (large even margins) tied by "Richmond, Va./Aug. 20, 1863" cds, Extremely Fine (Pictured in Monroe Book, pg. 47).
Estimate    $150 - 200.

Cadet Reuben C. Akers was a student at the Virginia Military Institute when he received this correspondence. Approximately nine months later, on May 15, 1864, Cadet Akers would find himself fighting courageously at the Battle of New Market (Virginia) as part of a battalion of teenage VMI cadets under the command of one of their professors, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Shipp. Of the 5,000 Confederates engaged, 247 were VMI cadets. Of the 247 that fought in the struggle, 10 were killed and 47 wounded for a casualty rate of 23%. Cadet Akers, who was part of VMI Company D, suffered a wound to his right arm but survived battle. Past professor at VMI, Lieutenant General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson, CSA, would have been very proud of the gallantry displayed by the VMI cadets.

Realized: $475

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Lot 7    

Confederacy, (Military Related) Col. Howell Cobb. Cover addressed to Cobb in Richmond & endorsed politeness of "Major W.H. Freeman/Forwarded by Mail", postmarked "Monroe, Ga./Oct. 21" cds with matching "Paid" straight line & "10" in circle handstamps, some wrinkles, small tear at top & small portion of flap torn away, Very Fine (Pictured in Monroe Book, pg. 42).
Estimate    $75 - 100.

Cobb who rose to the rank of Major General on September 9,1863. Cobb was a powerful Georgia politician who served as a Whig congressman, Georgia Governor and US Secretary of the Treasury. He was President of the Montgomery Convention which established the Confederacy and had the honor of swearing in President Jefferson Davis.

Realized: $55

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Lot 8    

Confederacy, (Military Related) Col. Randell L. Gibson. Cover addressed to Gibson in Columbus, Ky. & postmarked "Tigerville, La./Nov.29" (1861) cds with manuscript "Paid 10" rate, two sealed tears at top, Very Fine appearance (Pictured in Monroe Book, pg. 42).
Estimate    $200 - 300.

Colonel Randell L. Gibson was promoted to Brigadier General on January 11, 1864. This cover is from his family in his hometown of Tigerville, Louisiana, which in 1888 was renamed Gibson in his honor while serving as a US Senator. This Tigerville postmark is the only one known from this obscure South Louisiana town. It was sent to Confederate occupied Kentucky in 1861.

Realized: $550

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Lot 9    

Confederacy, (Military Related) Colonel Robert McCulloch. Soldier's letter from Colonel Robert McCulloch, CSA, Commanding Officer, 2nd Regiment, Missouri Cavalry with endorsement at top left, postmarked "Holly Springs, Miss./Oct. 30" (1862) cds with a pencil manuscript (due) "10", portion of flap replaced & small mended tear at top, Very Fine and rare, featured in Apr-June 2008 article of the Confederate Philatelist (Pictured in Monroe Book, pg. 45).
Estimate    $1,000 - 1,500.

The regiment was organized at Springfield, Missouri, during the fall of 1861. The cavalry unit fought at the battle of Iuka (September 19, 1862) and continued to fight in Mississippi as well as Alabama and Tennessee. Covers from Missouri Confederate units are uncommon and prized by collectors.

In Missouri, the conflicts of unconditional Unionists, conservative Unionists, and Secessionists produced unusual turbulence and governmental confusion. Civil war soon resulted in the state, culminating in the battles of Wilson Creek (August 10, 1861) and Pea Ridge (March 6-8, 1862), in which the Missouri Secessionists were severely defeated. Although Unionist forces gained possession of the state, neighborhood war, bushwhacking, sniping and guerrilla fighting became rampant in Missouri. To combat the disorder, portions of the state were placed under martial law. Military courts were kept busy with cases of civilians tried for bridge burning, tearing up railway and telegraph lines, and like offenses. The division of sentiment in Missouri is illustrated by the fact that 109,000 men were furnished to the Union army while 30,000 fought for the Confederacy.

Realized: $725

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Lot 10    

Confederacy, (Military Related) Lieutenant Colonel Bradley Tyler Johnson. Neat cover addressed to Lieutenant Colonel Bradley Tyler Johnson of the 1st Maryland Infantry Regiment, Care Major Thomas Rhett, Head Quarters Army of the Potomac in Manassas Junction, Va., postmarked "Winchester, Va./Nov. 15" (1861) cds with handstamped "Paid 5", Extremely Fine, a superb example of mail sent to a Maryland unit (Pictured in Monroe Book, pg. 46).
Estimate    $300 - 400.

The 1st Maryland was assembled in Winchester, Virginia, during the early summer of 1861 with about 600 men. It fought in General Elzey's Brigade and was active at First Manassas, in General Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, and the Seven Days' Battle. Because of heavy losses, the 1st Maryland was disbanded at Gordensville, Virginia, on August 11, 1862. Johnson continued to serve in key positions throughout the war and was promoted to Brigadier General on June 25, 1864. He survived the great conflict and went on to practice law in Richmond, Virginia, and later served fours years in the Virginia State Senate. Brigadier General Johnson died in 1903.

Even though Maryland was not a part of the Confederacy, there were eight Maryland units in the Confederate Army:

1st Infantry Regiment, 1st Artillery Company
2nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Artillery Company
1st Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Artillery Company
2nd Cavalry Battalion, 4th Artillery Company

The total number of men that were in these eight units is estimated around 2,600. Because the families of most of these men lived in Federally controlled Maryland, the soldiers' ability to regularly exchange letters with their love ones was impossible. This coupled with the small number of troops explains why Confederate covers to and from these Maryland units are very scarce and prized by collectors.

Realized: $280

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Lots 1-10 Lots 11-12

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