CIVILIAN FLAG-OF-TRUCE: NORFOLK / VA. // DEC / 18 / 1861, blue cds with matching encircled PAID 5C handstamp (CSA type C) on civilian flag-of-truce cover to Miss Harriott Middleton, Charleston, So.Ca Pencil "Exd. 10cts. Pd." (postage due for double weight?) notation, probably enclosed in outer cover containing funds for postage and addressed to Fortress Monroe, typical of flag-of-truce mail it was exchanged at Norfolk, Extremely Fine with undated photocopy of early CSA authentication certificate signed Shenfield as Chairman (1945-48). Ex J.V. Nielsen. CSA Catalog type CIV01 (CV $750). The Middleton correspondence is well-known and this was likely from Harriott’s sister Anne M. Hunter of New York. From September 1861 until late January 1862, most southbound mail was directed to Fortress Monroe where it was exchanged under flag of truce with Confederate officials at Norfolk, and letters were then placed in the Confederate mails at Norfolk. THIS SCARCE ROUTE WAS ONLY IN PLACE FOR FIVE MONTHS. Union Secretary of War Simon Cameron called a halt to all civilian flag of truce exchanges in January 1862 and was affirmed by Edwin Stanton in May 1863. Not all flag of truce mail bears a censor marking. $900.