This Artmaster First Day Cover features the 5¢ Civil War Centennial stamp honoring the Battle of the Wilderness, postmarked on May 5, 1964, at Fredericksburg, Virginia, with the special Wilderness Station cancel.
The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, marked the opening engagement of Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign against Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. It was one of the war’s bloodiest and most chaotic fights, conducted in dense, tangled forest that neutralized artillery and favored defensive tactics.
The striking black-and-white cachet depicts facing portraits of Grant and Lee above a dramatic artillery scene, flanked by crossed American and Confederate flags. The design is signed “Artmaster First Day of Issue.”
Addressed to Mr. Kenneth F. Shields in Rochester, New York, the cover carries the handwritten address 32 Arvine Park, Rochester, New York 14611.
A clean, well-centered example ideal for Civil War topical or Centennial-era collections.
