Cover with #63 1c blue and #65 3c rose tied by June 27, 1862 dated PHILADELPHIA/Pa. cds postmark, and addressed to "Lt. Col. A. W. Ellet, Commander of the U.S. Ram Fleet, On the Mississippi River, Cairo, Illinois" On the back is June 27 dated "U.S. PENNY MAIL/PHILA. PA." octagon postmark. 

Alfred Washington Ellet, (1820-1895), was a Union Army Brigadier General who commanded the Mississippi Marine Brigade and the United States Ram Fleet during the Civil War. He fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. in Apr. 1862, as Captain in the 59th Illinois Infantry. When his elder brother, Charles Ellet, Jr. created and took command of the United States Ram Fleet, a fleet of steam-powered rams, in the Spring of 1862, Alfred became Lt. Col. & second in command of the Ram Fleet. On June 6, 1862, Col. Charles Ellet Jr. led the rams in the Battle of Memphis as Capt. of the USS Queen of the West, and with Alfred in command of the USS Monarch. The Queen of the West rammed and sank the Confederate flagship CSS Colonel Lovell, and the Monarch rammed and disabled the CSS General Price. Col. Charles Ellet Jr. was shot in the knee by a sharpshooter during the battle, and died of his wound 15 days later, and Alfred W. Ellet took command of the Ram Fleet. On Nov. 1, 1862, he was promoted to Brigadier General, and charged with the creation of the Mississippi Marine Brigade, an amphibious raiding unit which included an infantry regiment, 2 Cavalry squadrons, an artillery battery and the U.S. Ram Fleet. Ellet continued to command the Mississippi Marine Brigade during operations on the Western Rivers until 1864 when the unit was disestablished. He resigned his commission late in 1864 amid allegations of profiteering from seized Confederate cotton. 

SCARCE.

Condition: Top right corner torn. Fine. 

COMBINED SHIPPING FOR MULTIPLE ITEMS.