Lot
2046 
Confederacy, Morris Island Prison (Charleston, S.C.) - "Immortal Confederate 600", prisoner cover to William C. Bee, Charleston S.C. endorsed "Via Flag of Truce" at left and bearing uncancelled C.S.A. 10¢ blue (11), large margins, pencil "Ex H" examiner's marking at top left probably for Col. Edward N. Hallowell, Commander of the 54th Mass.; original letter no longer accompanies, Very Fine. Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
Nathan S. Moseley was a Lieutenant in Company F of the 12th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. Moseley had been wounded and captured at Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia on May 12, 1864. He spent about six weeks at the Lincoln General Hospital in Washington D.C., before being transferred to the Old Capitol Prison and then to Fort Delaware. While in the hospital he had taken care of Mr. Bee's son James, a wound fellow prisoner. Shortly after amputation of a leg, James Bee died, and Moseley penned a touching letter to his father informing him of the sad news. At Morris Island, he renewed his correspondence with William C. Bee, possibly hoping to receive some help from him.
The "Immortal 600" was a group of 600 prisoners, all Confederate officers, moved from Fort Delaware to be sent to Morris Island in Charleston harbor in August 1864 and held in open barracks exposed to mortar fire from Confederate batteries.
This extraordinarily inhumane act was the Federal response to an equally repulsive act on the part of Confederates in Charleston, who exposed Union prisoners to bombardment from Federal forces within range of the city. This sorry chapter of the war ended in a stalemate in October 1864. Covers from Confederate prisoners imprisoned on Morris Island are very rare.
Realized: $600