4 May 1862 Confederate States Navy USS VIRGINIA/MERRIMACK drop-letter rate cover

Description: Confederate States Navy "MERRIMACK" / drop-letter rate mail: MAY 4 [1862] postmarked outer lettersheet (light-blue lined writing paper) to Mrs. H. Ashton Ramsay, Care of D?Arcy Paul, Esq., PETERSBURG [Virginia], franked 5 cents using a single blue CSA 4-2 stamp with large to full margins, affixed with red sealing wax & tied by single strike of local postmark in blue.The postage paid reflects the period letter rate, until 1 July 1862, for distances under 500 miles; the postage could also cover the period rate for inland waterway mail - reasonable in this circumstance, and if the cover was carried in a locked bag by a vessel contracted to carry such mail, the cover did not need to be specially marked as such. Nevertheless, as addressed "care of", the postage paid was actually an overpayment of the 2 cent drop letter rate (eg. mailed to a local address at a post office without delivery service, and picked up by the addressee as like "poste restante" mail - in Civil War mail often evidenced by "care of" addresses); here overpaid because pre-franked by the sender.Pencil notation on top left "Written on Ram Virginia" by the husband of the addressee, Henry Ashton Ramsay, the Chief Engineer on the CSS Virginia (commissioned into the Confederate Navy on 10 June 1861 and previously served in the US Navy). The co-addressee, Captain D'Arcy W. Paul served as an officer in Company K of the 12th Regiment Virginia Infantry, Mahone's Division, in A. P. Hill's 3rd Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia; he was accidentally killed by a falling tree on 20 January 1863. Ex Warren collection.The CSS Virginia, also known as "Ram Virginia", was an ironclad ram of the Confederate Navy built from the hull of the scuttled USS Merrimack, part of the CSN's James River Squadron, and together with the USS Monitor it fought the world's first battle between ironclads, at Hampton Roads on 8-9 March; this letter was posted further up the James River a week before (11 May) the ship was scuttled near Portsmouth on the mouth of the river. Historic postal history from a key participant in maritime history.A curiosity: Confederate active service members were eligible for free postage (with the addressee bearing the cost). Though instituted for the Army, members of the Navy & Marines also made use of this exemption. The postage here may have been pre-paid as a courtesy, as the letter was actually being received by someone else for Ramsay's wife. --- Most of our merchandise ships out from Israel | orders are combined | additional items are charged 75c: DOMESTIC services available are Registered mail (default) and courier mail. Please contact us if you desire courier mail. BUYERS IN ISRAEL: eBay does not recognize Israel as being a "domestic" mailing destination - please contact us to be invoiced and charged $5 for registered mail. --- OVERSEAS services available are Priority ECO Post registered airmail (default - $15 flat fee) and express EMS mail (3-day / 5-day to-door delivery - $40 flat fee). These options can be selected on check-out. We recognize that the shipping overseas is expensive - only ECO Post shows tracking up to delivery; for less expensive purchases on the understanding of the customer that tracking is not available we can user $5 standard registered mail overseas - please contact us so we can invoice you at this rate. --- Prospective buyers in countries without postal relations with Israel can receive orders via a third country. Please contact us for this option. --- To see higher end specialized philatelic items + materials from countries which cannot be displayed on ebay, add d o t com to our our handle name

Price: 1999 USD

Location: Jerusalem Israel

End Time: 2024-12-03T07:21:28.000Z

Shipping Cost: 12 USD