Lot
2472 
Confederacy, Camp Boyd Military Prison, Louisville, Ky., prisoner cover franked with United States 1861 3¢ rose, tiny hidden flaws, tied by blue "Louisville, Ky./Feb. 12, 1865" duplex with target cancel, addressed to Cave City, Ky. with manuscript censor endorsement at left "Examined, W.C. Wells, Hospital Steward, Mil. Prison Hospital, Louisville, Ky.", flap torn, Very Fine, two recorded covers, one incoming and this being the sole example used from the prison. Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
THIS CIVIL WAR RARITY WAS DISCOVERED IN MARCH 1996, AND IS THE ONLY KNOWN COVER FROM CAMP BOYD PRISON.
Camp Boyd Military Prison in Louisville, Kentucky, was in operation as early as September 1862. This is documented by a letter written on September 18, 1862, from Kentucky Governor Robinson to President Lincoln who alleged that many innocent citizens of his state were being held in the prison. Governor Robinson requested that a commission be established to investigate and release those Kentucky citizens found to be innocent.
Camp Boyd Prison was located on Broadway near Tenth Street and was meant to be a temporary facility with its primary mission as a prisoner receiving depot. Most of the captives were temporarily housed and quickly transferred to more permanent prisons such as Rock Island Barracks, Rock Island, Illinois. December 1863, marked the high point of operations when 6,666 prisoners passed through Camp Boyd Prison. The prison population, which occasionally included women and children, never exceeded 438 on any given day. Records indicate that the hospital was separate from the prison but within the main prison enclosure. Prison operations ceased in July 1865.
References: Pictured in Harrison Book on pg. 141 and Monroe Book on pg. 104.
Realized: $1,900