COBHAM Va. neat cds (ms Oct 9 date) with matching handstamped PAID and manuscript “5” rate on cover to Alfred L. Rives, Esq, Care of James B. Macmurdo, Richmond, Va. (Rives’ father-in-law) with pencil docketing “Ella 8 Oct 1861”; Cobham was an Albemarle County stop on the Virginia Central RailRoad; tiniest insignificant tear at top edge; Ex Thacker and John Vagnetti.  $200.

Alfred Landon Rives was born in 1830 in Paris, France, the son of William Cabell Rives, the distinguished minister to France. During the War, he was acting chief engineer for the State of Virginia and later for the Confederate States, which position he held until the end of the War as a Colonel. He was one of the two Chiefs of the Corps of Engineers to General Robert E. Lee.