CSA 10, 10¢ blue Frameline with full frames at right and bottom as well as trace at left (bit of toning at right), canceled by two pen strokes with matching small-town manuscript postmark of Locust Dale (Va.) May 10^th on small darling lady’s cover homemade from earlier letter, addressed to Miss Lucy T. Gordon, Care Dr. Quarles, Gordonsville, Virginia. A charming and scarce use. SCV $3,500. $2,800.

Locust Dale, Virginia (Madison County) is where Stonewall Jackson’s Army crossed the Robinson River moving north to the Battle of Cedar mountain on August 9, 1862. The battle was fought a few hours later, a Confederate victory. Inglewood was a historic house built in Gordonsville around 1850-53. During the war, homebuilder Dr. Charles Quarles operated a boarding school there, Inglewood Female Academy. Lucy was possibly an Inglewood student.