CSA 12-ADc, 10¢ bluish green (small faults) tied RICHMOND / VA. // DEC / 26 cds on cover addressed by Governor John Letcher to Mr. J. D. Davidson, Lexington, Rockbridge [County] Va. with State of Virginia, Executive Department imprint (S-VA-01, CV $500) at lower left of envelope which is addressed upside down thus placed it at upper right, embossing under top back flap “Manufactured by Waterlow & Sons, 65 to 68 London Wall, London.” On verso is a note by Letcher, “If you want to send me a telegram write to N. K. Fant, Mayor of S. ? to Despatch to you & I will get it. Letcher.” Ex Whittle. $350.

John Letcher (1813-1884) is best known as Virginia’s Civil War-era governor, serving from 1860 through 1863. He was also a prominent attorney in Lexington, Va., a newspaper editor, Democratic party leader in western Virginia, and member of congress in the 1850s. After the Civil War, he resumed his law practice and spent one session in the Virginia House of Delegates, 1875-1877. Thereafter, his health began to fail and he died in Lexington early in 1884. 

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