Charleston S.C. 16X1, 5¢ blue type E with huge margins all around showing three outer frame lines and top sheet margin, tied by perfect bold CHARLESTON S.C. SEP. 23, 1861 circular datestamp on small narrow cover to Miss Alicia Middleton, Flat Rock No Ca. Extremely fine. A choice example of the Charleston provisional. Ex Gehrmann, Emerson and Hall. SCV $1,750. $2,500.

The Middleton correspondence is well known by Confederate students; the family papers are housed in the Southern Historical Collection and UNC at Chapel Hill. The Middletons were a wealthy planting family, the largest enslavers in the area with more than 3,000 slaves on their various plantations. Alicia Hopton Middleton (1849-1938) was the daughter of Nathaniel Russell Middleton (1810-1890). Nathaniel was a plantation owner, a South Carolina State Representative, treasurer of the City of Charleston, and president of the College of Charleston.