U26, 3¢ star-die entire tied by light blue PORTSMOUTH / Va. // MAY / 22 / 1861 circle datestamp to Mrs. E.G.B. Snead, Milledgeville, Georgia.  Confederate Use of U.S. Postage – this was possible for less than a month as Virginia joined the Confederacy quite late, May 7, 1861. $250.

Elizabeth Georgiana Beverly Washington Snead was the wife of Rev. Tillman Snead and daughter of Robert D. and Elizabeth Washington. She was born in Edgefield District, South Carolina, May 19, 1799, and died in Baldwin County, Ga., December 28, 1871. Her father moved in 1791 to Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, where she resided until her marriage, June 15, 1818. He husband was an itinerant Methodist preacher – Source: Southern Christian Advocate, January 31, 1872. PORTSMOUTH: Fearing that the Confederacy would take control of the shipyard at Portsmouth, the shipyard commander ordered the burning of the shipyard. The Confederate forces did take over the shipyard, and did so without armed conflict through an elaborate ruse orchestrated by William Mahone, soon to become a famous Confederate officer. Union forces withdrew across Hampton Roads to Fort Monroe, which was the only land in the area which remained under Union control. In early 1862, the Confederate the CSS Virginia engaged the ironclad USS Monitor in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads during the Union blockade. The Confederates burned the shipyard again when they left in May 1862. Following the recapture of Norfolk and Portsmouth by Union forces, the name of the shipyard was changed to Norfolk Naval Shipyard.