MANNING SC APR 30 (1861) circular datestamp with ms. “Paid 3¢” CSA Use of U.S. Postage (CV $300) on cover to Hon. Ex. Gov. J.L. Manning, Charleston, S.C., flap tear. Ex Murphy. $120.

John Lawrence Manning (1816-1889 - middle name sometimes spelled Laurence) was a Princeton-educated planter and served as the 65th Governor of South Carolina 1852-54. He was married to the daughter of General Wade Hampton I. According to the 1860 U.S. Slave Census, he owned 670 enslaved African-Americans, making him the 6th largest American slave owner at the time. He was a member of the South Carolina Secession Convention and a signer of the Ordinance of Secession. He served in the South Carolina Senate from 1861 to 1865 and in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1865 to 1867. Although elected to the U.S. Senate in 1865, he was denied the seat along with other southern Senators.