US U10 3¢ red Nesbitt entire tied MONTGOMERY Ala. FEB 13 1861, CSA Use of US Postage addressed to Col. James Chesnut, Camden So Carolina with back flap tears extending a bit over the top edge. CCV $250. $160. 

Col. James Chesnut, Jr. (1815-1885) was a distinguished senator from South Carolina. He graduated from the law department of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1837 and was admitted to the bar the same year, beginning his legal practice in Camden, SC. Chesnut served in the State House of Representatives from 1842 to 1854, and was a delegate to the Southern Convention at Nashville in 1850. He continued his political career in the State Senate from 1854 to 1858 and was subsequently elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Josiah J. Evans, serving from December 3, 1858, until November 10, 1860, when he withdrew. He was expelled from the Senate on July 11, 1861, due to his support for the rebellion. Chesnut was a delegate to the Confederate Provisional Congress in 1861. During the Civil War, he served as a colonel in the Confederate Army and was appointed brigadier general in 1864. As an aide to Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, he ordered the firing on Fort Sumter and also served as an aide to President Jefferson Davis. His wife, Mary Boykin Chesnut, achieved significant recognition through her published diaries that documented their active political and social life, notable acquaintances, and her vivid descriptions of events. Her work, A Diary from Dixie, remains a prominent first-hand account of the Civil War. The second annotated version, published in 1981 as Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for History.