Photography & Ephemera

Two 1861 patriotic civil war free frank covers. mailed by U.S. Senator, and later U. S. Representative and Union Army Brigadier General in the American Civil War Charles Henry Van Wyck, (1824-1895). Van Wyck was a noted anti-slavery American politician who suffered an assassination attempt while in Congress, the same night President Abraham Lincoln was also the subject of a similarly unsuccessful assassination attempt. He served during the war, was wounded, and eventually returned to Congress after the war. Both covers are postmarked in Washington, D. C., in 1861. One cover has a cachet depicting a slave admonishing a flag lowering white man with the following words: “I wouldn’t pull down that Flag, Massa George. You will never forgive yourself as long as you lib if you do. …..” Very good.