CSA 2-H, 10¢ dark blue, Hoyer & Ludwig (Scott 2b) tied by TUDOR HALL VA. FEB 25 1862 CDS (postmark for Manassas) on fresh cover to Dr. J. Winsmith, Janney’s Hotel, Columbia, S.C., top back flap expertly replaced, Very Fine. SCV $1,000. Ex William A. Fox and David Burton. $400.

John Winsmith (1802-1888) was born John Winn Smith in the upstate near Glenn Springs, South Carolina. From 1822 to 1825, he attended and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Upon his return to South Carolina, he practiced medicine in the Spartanburg and Union districts. It said the woman he wanted to marry refused to marry anyone with so common a last name as Smith, so he legally changed his name to John Winsmith - problem solved. He represented the Spartanburg District in the South Carolina legislature from 1830 - 1832 and again from 1852 - 1862 and 1865 - 1866. He was also a delegate to the Southern Rights Convention  of 1852. During the war, he served the Confederate Army as captain of Company H, First Regiment South Carolina Volunteers. While serving in the South Carolina Senate, he opposed the 1865 Black Code that attempted to exert control over freedmen. Previously a Democrat, he joined the Republican Party in 1870 and was subsequently attacked and seriously wounded by the Ku Klux Klan because of his cooperation with the radical government. He died and was buried in Spartanburg, SC. He was the husband of Catherine Elizabeth Faber.