Historic Civil War Letter Discovered in an Old Stamp Album

The GoUpState.com website reports that a historic letter predicting the start of the Civil War was discovered in between pages of a World War II stamp album that was purchased years ago at a St. Louis flea market.

According to the article by Lee G. Healy, a former history teacher sent the well-preserved letter to the Spartanburg County Library asking if they would be interested in having it. The writer was a former mayor of Spartanburg, SC. The teacher had the letter for about 30 years and used it to teach high school students about the Civil War.

Dated Feb. 25, 1861, it reads in part, "I expect you soon will hear of war, Fort Sumter will be bombarded ere this letter reaches you. We have quiet times here, only that our boys can't wait to attack Fort Sumter they are spoiling for a fight."

Shown here is the envelope and postmark that clearly reads "Spartanburg, S.C., Feb. 26, 1861." Fort Sumter was attacked on April 12, 1861 and marked the beginning of the Civil War.

Shown above, Susan Thoms, local history assistant at the Spartanburg County Public Library, holds the letter.

To read the entire article, click here.