FORT DELAWARE SMUGGLED LETTER: CSA 11, 10¢ blue used with RALEIGH NC illegible CDS to William Grimes, Raleigh N. Ca. on OVERPAID DROP with smuggled letter headed “U.S. Military Prison Fort Delaware Del. Feby 23rd 1865” from Prisoner of War Lt. A.H. Mansfield 8th NC Infantry (Clingman’s Brigade) to Grimes, a relative who was editor of a Raleigh newspaper. Carried to Raleigh by Capt. Burgwin (sic) as indicated by “Politeness of Capt. Burgwin” at lower left of cover and content of the strongly penned letter saying Burgwyn was among some officers about to be released and heading for the South in whose care he entrusts the letter; Burgwyn dropped the already-stamped envelope in the Raleigh mail system. Mansfield addresses the letter to “Cosin William.” Ex Galen Harrison. $1,750.

Alonzo H. Mansfield enlisted September 23, 1862, as a second Lieutenant in Company K, North Carolina 8th Infantry. He was taken prisoner May 31, 1864, at Cold Harbor, Virginia. He was first confined at Point Lookout but transferred to Fort Delaware June 23, 1864. He took the oath of allegiance June 16, 1865, and was released.

William Hyslop Sumner Burgwyn (1845-1913, also recorded as Burgwin) was the son of a wealthy planter, a lawyer, a soldier, and a banker. He held both law (Harvard 1870) and medical degrees (Washington Medical University 1876), although he never practiced medicine. Overachiever seems the best way to describe him. He was captain and aide de camp to Gen. Clingman and A. Inspector General. He was captured at Fort Harrison, Va., September 30, 1864, and sent to Ft. Delaware October 21, 1864. He was paroled and forwarded for exchange February 27, 1865.  In the National Archives, there is a letter from Gen. Clingman to Secretary of War James A. Seddon asking that Capt. Burgwyn be promoted despite being taken prisoner and still recovering from his wounds. Another is from Zebulon B. Vance, Governor of North Carolina (1862-1864), to Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge who states Capt. Burgwyn is “desirous of commanding a regiment of negroes when they should be put in the service.” There is also a letter to Breckinridge from Burgwyn dated March 29, 1865, stating the same thing and describing himself as a returned prisoner of war on furlough. Seddon was the longest serving CSA Secretary of War November 21, 1862-February 5, 1865, when Breckinridge assumed the position as the last to hold that office. The Burgwyn family papers 1787-1994, are housed in the Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC at Chapel Hill.