LAKE CITY / FL // MA- (could be March or May) with matching DUE 10 (type F, CV $350) on cover addressed to W.H. Felker, Charleston S.C. Co E, 18th Regt S.C. Vol. Miles H. Ferguson was captain of the company which was in Evan’s Brigade, Department of SC, Ga, and Fla. The company moved to Florida beginning September 7, 1863, from their post defending Charleston Harbor. Mrs. Felker sent her husband a letter to Charleston, but the company had already moved to Florida. On the verso is a penned note, “Respectfully returned, W.H.F. being off at hospital. M.H. Ferguson, Capt. Co E 18th S.C. Vol.” and the letter was returned to Mrs. Felker in Glenn Springs, So.Ca., via Hebron, as noted in lower corner. The original mailing from Mrs. Felker was franked with a stamp, removed from the cover and with a portion of a CDS visible in lower corner, possibly Cleveland, S.C., where they lived out their last years. Also with the manuscript notation “unpaid” at cover edge. A fascinating use. $350. 

Wiley H. Felker was a NURSE in Company E, 18th Regiment S.C. Volunteers, Evan’s Brigade, Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. He was sickly from the start and was in and out as a patient, as well as a nurse. Several military records are included showing him detailed as a nurse in Cottage Hospital, Columbia, S.C., and captured at Appomattox April 3, 1865, and released June 16, 1865. Also included is his obituary which indicates he had been a cripple for many years and died of gangrene of the foot. He and wife, Nancy Felker, were listed as living in Hobbysville, S.C., in the 1860 census.