First Day Cover
Sc. 4910 Civil War - Petersburg on a 5”x7 Dragon Card
reproducing a Currier & Ives print of the battle, possibly from
1865. We colored the black-and-white print and added a photo of Gen.
James Ledlie. A known alcoholic, Leslie was given command of the unit
that was to lead the charge after the huge underground explosion under
Confederate lines. He either was too drunk to understand his orders or
to drunk to properly impart them to his subordinates, and his unit
ended up in the crater, instead of going around it. He spent the Battle
of the Crater in an aid tent, drinking “medicinal spirits.” For this
reason, we have added the Sc. 1927 Alcoholism stamp, tied by the
Petersburg pictorial first day hand cancel. The stamps were issued on the exact
150th anniversary of the Battle of the Crater, which might have
shortened the war by 9 months but for Ledlie and other poor leaders.
Great for a Civil War- or military-on-stamps collection!