U.S. 26, 3¢ dull red (tiny UR corner perf fault) tied neat ALEXANDRIA VA APR 17 1861 double-circle datestamp on the FIRST DAY OF VIRGINIA INDEPENDENCE cover with spectacular blue advertising cover of Green’s Mansion House on verso, addressed to Miss Mary F. Kagey, New Market, Shenandoah Co. Virginia. Virginia was only independent for a few short weeks before she joined the Confederacy May 7, 1861. This cover will be featured in my column in the September 2023 issue of the American Stamp Collector & Dealer. $3,000. Listed in both Independent-2 and Advertising

Green’s Mansion House was converted to a Union hospital during the Civil War. Alexandria was captured very early on May 24, 1861, and remained in the Union the remainder of the war. It was the largest hotel in Alexandria; in early November 1861, Green received notice stating he had three days to vacate. On December 1, 1861, Mansion House Hospital was opened as a General Hospital. Parts of nearby buildings were also used as part of the hospital. The facility could hold up to 700 patients, sick and wounded soldiers. In 2016, PBS broadcast a miniseries, Mercy Street, set in the hospital in 1862. Baroness Mary Phinney von Olnhausen (1818–1902) was an American nurse, abolitionist, and diarist who served as a nurse there. She also served as a nurse in the Franco-Prussian War for which she was awarded a Cross of Merit for Women and Girls in 1873 by Kaiser Wilhelm I (similar to an Iron Cross). It was torn down in 1973 due to deterioration and to reveal an unobstructed view of the historic Carlyle House. Mary F. Kagey (1832-1911) had a brother, David Franklin Kagey (1834-1923), who served as a hospital steward with the 25^th Virginia Infantry. Their wartime correspondence is archived at the Library of Virginia.