RICHMOND VA. APR -- 1863 circular datestamp (Powell type 6b) with matching DUE 10 (type Q) on cover to

Capt. Chas. D. Fontaine, Grenada Miss. with endorsement of Mississippi Senator James Phelan MC. Small replaced piece of cover at left, Ex Harry Muldrow. Scarce Member of Congress Due from Mississippi congressman. $300.

James Phelan Sr.  (1821-1873) was a senator in the Confederate States Congress representing Mississippi. He was born in Huntsville, Ala. His father was a native of Ireland. Phelan was apprenticed as a printer to the Democrat at fourteen years of age, subsequently edited the Flag of the Union, a Democratic organ, and became state printer in 1843. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, moved to Mississippi in 1849, and settled in Aberdeen, where he established a large practice. He became a member of the Mississippi State Senate in 1860 and was thereafter elected a senator from Mississippi in the First Confederate Congress 162-64.

Confederate congressmen were permitted to send letters without the prepayment of postage. The postage was to be paid on delivery by the recipient. All letters were to be endorsed with the signature of the congressmen. This privilege was not widely used because congressmen were doubtless reluctant to have their constituents pay to receive their letters. Nonetheless, these endorsements are seen on Confederate mail, usually as a holdover from having been in the U.S. Congress in years prior.