CIVILIAN FLAG OF TRUCE: CSA 2-P, 10¢ blue Paterson (faulty) tied bold RICHMOND Va. NOV 4 1862 cds (type 3f) on an unmarked inner envelope (outer envelope discarded at exchange point). This is a well-known correspondence. The original letter is headed Hamilton, Madison Co. NY Oct 27 (1862) from Smith Mott to his daughter, Mrs. Maria B. Bostick, Robertville, South Carolina. Ex Harry Muldrow. $400.

The Mott-Bostick correspondence is well-known to serious students. This letter is from Smith Mott in Hamilton NY to his daughter, Maria B. Bostick, wife of a Confederate soldier. Most letters from this correspondence went by Flag of Truce across the lines. Some are known to have been run through the Federal blockade at Charleston to England with routing via Nassau, Bahamas. This correspondence is the subject of the Jan-Feb 1974 Confederate Philatelist in Dr. Edward Greenwald’s article “Civilian Flag of Truce Mail - The Mott-Bostick Correspondence,” which describes the correspondence, as well as explanatory flag of truce tables. Covers in this correspondence with CSA stamps are uncommon.