CIVILIAN FLAG OF TRUCE: CSA 11, 10¢ blue (4 margins, light pre-use creases) tied RICHMOND / VA // MAY / 13 cds on cover to Miss Anna R. Tuthill, Columbia, South Carolina, with manuscript directive at top left, “For Flag of Truce.” From Anna’s sister, Emma J. Tuthill, in the North (East Otto, New York). Envelope is pristine and the gummed flap (commercially made cover) has never been sealed, open for examination, this being the inner cover. Plantation Collection. $300.

Federal regulations required that letters sent to the Confederacy be enclosed in an "inner" unsealed envelope, properly addressed, and affixed with the appropriate Confederate postage, although the letter could be sent postage collect. The "inner" envelope was then placed in an "outer" envelope that was addressed to the Commanding General at Fortress Monroe, Old Point Comfort, Virginia, which was the principal Northern "through-the-Iines" exchange point. Such letters were also required to bear the notation "Flag of Truce". The "outer" envelope was opened and destroyed at Fortress Monroe, and the "inner" envelope forwarded on to the South.