US 26, 3¢ dull red just tied blue grid with matching beautifully struck blue PORTSMOUTH VA APR 17 1861 double circle cancel on pristine cover to E Wood Esquire, Edenton, N.C. This is the day Virginia seceded from the Union, thus a FIRST DAY Cover. It was independent a period of only 20 days. A lovely and rare use. Ex Birkinbine and Kaplan. $900.

Edward Wood (1820-1872) was an astute business with a large sawmill, an active fisheries business and 1,934 acres of land on which he used slave labor (in 1860, he owned 46 slaves). With the occupation of North Carolina by federal forces, his business routines were interrupted. The military government feared that fishermen would cross federal lines in the Albemarle Sound to trade with enemies of the United States and so forbade fishing. In February 1863, Wood complained to authorities about the regulation, arguing that the residents of Edenton needed food, and received permission to fish. But almost as soon as he began spring fishing on a limited scale, he was arrested for having "become obnoxious . . . by the free expression of his sentiments"—evidence suggests that a federal gunboat interfered with his fishermen—and held as a hostage pending the release of a prisoner taken by the Confederate forces. Fortunately, by the end of March Wood was released from his parole and obligations involved in the exchange of prisoners. His wealth steadily grew after the war so that he was managing about 5,000 acres as well as the fisheries, steamboats, and schooners.