LIBBY PRISON, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: inner envelope with OLD POINT COMFORT VA DEC 25 (1863) double-circle datestamp and straightline “Due 3” with endorsement at top “Prisoners Letter Libby Prison” to Miss Emma Paulding Care Rear Admiral Paulding, Navy Yard, New York. GREAT NAVAL ADDRESS to the prisoner officer’s sister care of his famous father. Minor staining. $500. 
Tattnall Paulding (1840-1907 was born in Huntingdon, Long Island, and was attending West Point Military Academy when the Civil War began. He immediately joined the Seventh New York Volunteers. In a few weeks' time he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Sixth United States Cavalry, and he served with that command all through the war, participating in various battles of the Army of the Potomac. He was first captured during the Chancellorsville Campaign May 4, 1863, but soon paroled and exchanged. Not long after, he was slightly wounded and taken prisoner on the third day of the battle of Gettysburg, and spent nine months in Libby Prison. As soon as he was liberated, he rejoined his regiment and continued in active service until July, 1866. He was promoted through various ranks to lieutenant colonel by brevet. He was a grandson of the famous John Paulding who was instrumental in effecting the capture of Major Andre during the Revolutionary War. In 1870, Tattnall Paulding became an insurance broker and conducted a successful business for an English company. In 1890, he was made president of the Delaware Insurance Company, and served continuously in that capacity until his death. His father was U.S. Admiral Hiram Paulding who in 1861 was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to a key position on the Navy Board to help create the Union wartime navy. In that office, Adm. Paulding was instrumental in evaluating John Ericsson's design of the USS Monitor.