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Fort Washita, Arkansas, Choctaw Nation, c. 1863, embossed cover struck with “Fort Washita / Ark.” c.d.s. (Apr 17) with manuscript “Pd 10c”, to Mrs. Fanney Keesee in Sterlin, Texas, endorsed “to leave of Thomas Keesee”, trivial edge faults, tear to back and some scattered stains, of little importance given the tremendous rarity and historical significance of this cover, believed to be the only recorded example of a Confederate handstamp used in Indian Territory, ex McCarren, Walske; 1974 C.S.A. certificate (#526) no longer accompanies. Fort Washita was established by Zachary Taylor in 1842, to protect citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. Following the attack on Fort Sumter in April, 1861, Union forces under Colonel William Emory at Fort Washita left for Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Confederate troops quickly occupied the fort, using it as a supply depot and military hospital for their forces in the Indian Territory until the end of the war, when it was abandoned and burned.
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