CSA 1, 5¢ green tied by LAGRANGE / GA // MAY / 6 [1862] cds on cover to Miss E. J. Elkins, Griffin Ga. with John Bell Three-Quarter Portrait with Flags, Eagle and Shield, Raynor imprint, Milgram JBL-14, slightly reduced at right. An extremely rare John Bell 1860 campaign cover used within the Confederate postal system. Ex White and Shenfield. $4,250.

John Bell, a prominent politician from Tennessee, ran for president in 1860 as the candidate for the Constitutional Union Party, a third party which took a neutral stance on the issue of slavery. Although he was opposed to secession during the antebellum period, following the Battle of Fort Sumter he dramatically reversed his position and supported the Confederate cause. In June 1861 he retired from politics. Bell spent the war years in retirement in Georgia, returning to Tennessee in 1865.